


As Certain Dark Things Are To Be Loved

by Mia_Zeklos



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 05:16:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 44,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2055051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mia_Zeklos/pseuds/Mia_Zeklos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ianto is what he has always been - a mystery - and Jack gradually realises that finding out who he is might take a while but is also going to be worth it. My take on the 30 Day OTP Challenge, mostly from Jack's point of view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One: Holding Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! So as you can see, I decided to try myself with the 30 Day OTP Challenge. I will try to post one every day, but there might be two at a time sometimes if needs must.  
> Warnings/Spoilers: This mostly takes place in my Time Lord!Ianto universe (which is the only one I see as the truth at this point, really) and it won’t be addressed at all times, but it will be mentioned sometimes. Spoilers: mild for things that have aired years ago, so I’ll just trust that you have already watched them.  
> Now, I know that this was supposed to be a drabble (it’s not) but I couldn’t resist so enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think! This is the first pairing I’m trying this challenge with and feedback would be awesome.

The world was spinning around him with enough speed that he couldn't see a single thing, but he could still hear the voices.

"What's going on?" Gwen 's voice was panicked and for a moment Jack couldn't remember why would that be.

 

Oh. He'd been shot. Right.

 

"Wish I had a clue,"  _Owen_ , the Captain's mind supplied. "Something hallucinogenic, probably. It wasn't even a weapon; that thing shot its venom at him."

"It's hallucinogenic all right," Ianto picked up the medic's train of thought and Jack could hear his well-polished shoes crunching on the pebbles - which were currently digging into every bit of skin that Jack possessed - as he approached.

 

"You've seen them before, then?"Gwen asked and Jack managed to open his eyes - just a little - to see Ianto nodding distractedly.

 

"It's not exactly hallucinations it causes, though," he continued. "These creatures - they feed off Rift energy and if they poison you, they show you things you should never see."

The wording was a bit strange but Jack paid it little mind as Ianto kneeled next to him, a cold hand reaching to check Jack's pulse.  
  
Their eyes met and suddenly pictures were dancing in front of the Captain's eyes, one of them sticking as suddenly, Ianto's skin started glowing softly, golden light surrounding them both.

"Ianto-" Jack managed to gasp out, gesturing wildly as the glowing intensified. "What's going-"

 

"Shhh." Ianto's usually guarded expression was even more tense and distant now. "It's okay. You'll be fine."

 

"Your whole body is on fire,"Jack objected and Ianto chuckled quietly. "We only see starlight because all the stars are bleeding, eh?"

" _What_?" Jack could feel his own face morphing into a grimace of confusion as he heard Gwen ask, "What was that?" at the same time.

 

 "'The Raw Shark Texts,'" Ianto said, standing up and leaving Jack to Owen's tender mercies with a few words to the man in question. "Steven Hall."

 

"Never heard of it," Gwen commented as their voices and footsteps were getting kind of far away now and Jack tried to lift his head to see where they had gone, only to fail miserably.

 

"It'll come out in two months," Ianto responded. Gwen gave a small sound of disbelief and Ianto kept going. "No, really. It fell through the Rift half a year ago and-" Jack could imagine him all too well right this instant - shrugging like a schoolboy that had been caught doing something that he shouldn't have done in class. "I sort of kept it."

"Lucky for you Jack's not at his best, or we would be getting a 'what did I say about taking things out of the Hub' speech right now," Gwen said and Jack heard them walking about, taking things in and out of the SUV, and started wondering just what they were up to. He made another attempt to look up and craned his neck and was pushed down firmly by Owen once again as the man swore under his breath.

 

"Owen-" he began angrily, but one single glance at him shut him up.

Just like it had happened with Ianto, Jack could see scenes flashing before his eyes but while with Ianto they didn't seem to end, with Owen they stopped abruptly and the last one seared itself onto the Captain's brain - a room and Owen in it and the terror of what was to happen...

"Where's the water bottle?" He heard Ianto's voice as if it were coming from underwater and then came the sound of someone - presumably Gwen - throwing it at him. Seconds later, Owen was pushed aside hastily and Ianto and Gwen came into view, similar expressions of anxiety and - was that guilt? - on both their faces. Gwen passed something small and white to Ianto and only when it was pressed against Jack's lips did he realise what it was.

 

"Sorry," Ianto said gently. "No one's meant to see the future, Jack, no matter what. The venom's effect is bound to have passed by the time you wake up."

Everything went white as the bitter taste of Retcon spread itself in Jack's mouth and the pictures around Ianto started appearing again, this time focusing Jack's attention on things he hadn't noticed the last time.

"Stay with me," Jack tried as the drug started taking hold and he felt Ianto's strong grip on his hand as the world slowly faded out of existence.

 


	2. Day Two: Cuddling Somewhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I seem to be making these slightly longer than necessary, meeting-the-prompt-at-the-end, mysterious and hurt/comfort-y. Like I said, though, I like to show the way the story progresses through Jack’s eyes mostly and – bit of a spoiler – that’s also how I’m going to introduce the mentioned woman later.  
> P.S.: The song used in the beginning (I couldn’t resist, it fitted to well) is Kiss Me Slowly by Parachute Band.

_I can see you there with the city lights_

_Fourteenth floor, pale blue eyes_

_I can breathe you in_

_Two shadows standing by the bedroom door_

_No, I could not want you more than I did right then_

_As our heads leaned in_

There was the sound of the door unlocking and then Ianto’s footsteps coming to a halt in the hallway.

 

 “Power’s gone out,” Jack said quietly to the unasked question. “I think it’s the whole street.”

 

Jack was at Ianto’s flat nursing a broken leg – and, since he hadn’t died, it would take a while – because it was easier compared to climbing in and out of his room all the time. He also secretly enjoyed the fact that, unlike Jack’s own one-person bed, Ianto had a queen-sized one and the heating was way better, but he’d never mention it.

 

“Oh. Okay.” Ianto wandered in dropping his phone and keys on a chair. “There’s bound to be a candle somewhere, so I’ll just–”

 

“No,” Jack interrupted. “Come here.”

 

Ianto lingered in the doorway to the kitchen, unsure, then nodded briskly and approached the sofa where Jack was sitting, taking his suit jacket off and slipping carefully next to his lover, uncomfortably sitting on the edge of the seat.

 

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Jack asked gently, snaking his hand around Ianto’s waist and bringing him closer. Ianto only flinched and the Captain tried to ignore it in favour of continuing the discussion. “You’re all off these days. What’s going on?”

 

Ianto turned around and offered him a tight smile. “Nothing, it’s just– I’m okay with darkness – God knows I prefer it to sunlight – but when it’s completely dark I’m just–”

 

“Mm?” Jack encouraged. He knew that this couldn’t be the only problem, but decided to focus on small things.

 

Ianto looked at him, eyes dark and anxious in the dark room. The city lights only outlined his features and Jack couldn’t help but admire the view while he had the opportunity. Ianto’s body was long and lean and his long eyelashes rested on his high cheekbones when he closed his eyes. The eyes that on the light would be gunmetal blue and that last days Jack had only seen wandering frantically around the room as if he were an animal that desperately wanted to escape but couldn’t find the way out.

 

“When I was at Canary Wharf, after the battle had already ended,” Ianto began carefully. “the place went into complete lockdown – you know, closing on itself and completely blocking out the world. It was completely dark and I couldn’t – I couldn’t see a thing. I wanted to find Lisa and I didn’t even know what floor I was anymore. My gun was empty – I’ve used it against the Daleks, not that it did much good – and all I could feel was the horror of the ones that had remained alive in the building.” Jack nodded again; he’d always known that Ianto was an empath and other people’s emotions had managed to overwhelm him not once or twice. “I felt like I was going to faint when there was a light in my face and I saw that it was a woman holding a torch. She told me to put myself together and when I couldn’t, she asked me what I was there for. I told her that I had to find Lisa and she gave me her torch and told me to get going. I’ve tried to avoid complete darkness since then.” Ianto’s laughter was weak and rather cynic, and the sound sent chills down Jack’s spine.

 

“Who was she?” He prompted, mostly trying to distract Ianto from the memories that had currently taken over him. “The woman?”

 

“That’s just the thing,” Ianto said and the Captain smiled – it had worked. “I never knew. She wasn’t among the survivors when we finally got out. I couldn’t find her anywhere and by that time there hadn’t been a camera working in the building. She was... tall, I think. Blonde. Lots of curly hair, and she acted as if she knew me. I never saw her after that. Sort of wanted to thank her.”

 

 _I sort of want to thank her too,_ Jack thought, although he had the nagging feeling that this could mean trouble. Unknown people who showed up out of nowhere and acted as if they knew you nearly always meant trouble and usually came from the future.

 

“You could go get the candles if you’d like to,” Jack suggested half-heartedly. Deep inside he wanted to be the one Ianto went to when he had trouble with such things; he wanted to be the missing light. The Captain squeezed Ianto’s hand and–

 

Something like a half memory passed through his mind, only to disappear moments later. Ianto’s cold hand on his face (So cold, too cold for human skin), the faint shimmer his skin seemed to be letting out.

 

_We only see starlight because all the stars are bleeding._

“No, it’s fine.” Ianto’s voice brought him back to reality and the Captain shook his head, as if to chase the not-really-memories away. “I can deal with it.”

 

Without saying anything, Jack threw an arm over Ianto’s bony shoulders, brought him closer to himself and closed his eyes, none of them moving a muscle until darkness lulled them to sleep.


	3. Day Four: On a Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, save for a few hints, today’s story is sort of a stand-alone. After all, before I forced a plot into these things, they were supposed to be innocent drabbles.  
> I suppose you’ve noticed that I missed day three, but it was Watching a Movie and I’ve already written that and I couldn’t conceive anything remotely different or better than it. Also, if you had got that today, it would be a rubbish one, so we head straight for the date.  
> Enjoy!

Jack was carefully watching Ianto as he approached, a mildly clueless look on his face as his eyes sought the Captain near the address he’d been sent earlier that day.

 

Jack suspected that Ianto liked that form of arranging a date because it was all very James Bond: Jack only sent him the coordinates, the hour, the dress code and a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on ‘Do I have to bring weapons?’ Sometimes Jack found himself getting troubled over the fact that Ianto seemed more excited when there were weapons required.

 

Tonight, however, was a no-guns night, the dress code was casual and the place was one of the best places when it came to clubs that Jack had managed to find. Just as he considered Ianto’s possible reactions at being brought to a club, his attention shifted back to Ianto himself who had finally spotted him.

 

The man had apparently decided to give the word ‘casual’ a brand new meaning. He was wearing a pair of right, dark blue jeans and a loose sleeveless black t-shirt. His jeans disappeared into his black combat boots and his hair was carefully arranged in that way of his that usually acquired a bottle or two of hair gel and that managed to look carelessly, _just got out of bed_ sort of ruffled while not being chaotic. As he neared Jack, the Captain noticed, rather alarmed, that there was something closely resembling a lipstick mark he’d tried to erase from his cheek.

 

“You’re late,” Jack pointed out as he took his hand to lead him in. “You’re never late.”

 

Ianto shrugged elegantly and Jack couldn’t help but see the difference in him from a few months ago. Ianto had always been self-assured in his qualities, no matter if they were physical or intellectual, but he’d never shown it explicitly. In the last several weeks, though, there was some sort of cool confidence that no one wanted or dared to question and Ianto had became even more alien to him than before.

 

It frustrated him sometimes – more often than not, actually – that he could never seem to get hold of Ianto long enough to _know_ what was going on. Everyone else is like an open book and if they weren’t, Jack did what he had always done, including his days in the Time Agency – checked their records and got what he wanted. With Ianto, it was on step forward and three sodding steps back when it came to research – he didn’t show up anywhere and where there was some information of him it was so obviously made-up that it sent him into further despair.

 

“A club?” There was some of the same despair in Ianto’s voice just now as he took in his surroundings with that quiet reserve that usually sent out signals along the lines of ‘that’s rubbish, but I’m too polite to say it and you better be able to take the hint’. Jack felt ridiculously disappointed by it and for a few moments, anger overtook as he realised that he hadn’t put that much effort in anyone in _decades_ and Ianto, damn him, wouldn’t even _try_ to appreciate it. “Seriously, Jack, what possessed you that you thought I’d want to–”

 

“I thought you need to loosen up.” He became aware of the double entendre the moment it came out of his mouth and Ianto turned around, a smirk tugging one corner of his lips.

 

“Loosening up is what _you_ usually need, Captain.”

 

There it was again. Ianto from just two months ago would never even think of a thing like that and here he was now, beating Jack at a game he didn’t know they’d been playing.

 

“You know what I mean. If you ever get out of the Archives it’s for alien-hunting. You’re twenty-four. Act like it.”

 

“That an order?”

 

“Sort of, yeah.”

 

He felt Ianto squeeze his hand as he led them to the dance floor, an unfamiliar fire burning in his eyes as he spun Jack around and pressed them chest to chest. “Are you ready to join me?”

 

Jack felt his own face lighting up. “Always.”


	4. Day Five: Kissing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was already pushing the boundaries of the term ‘drabble’, but this is completely out of it but in compensation, I’m back to having a plot. Speaking of which, I promise I’m going to pick up all the plot threads I’ve dropped around in the last three chapters. Those of you who’ve read my other stories know that I do that all the time. I’ll tie it up as soon as possible.  
> Anyway. I hope you enjoy the chapter and feedback is always appreciated. :)

“When I die, I want you to burn the body.”

 

Jack’s head snapped up from the report he had been reading as he saw Ianto leaning against the doorframe of his office. The words had tumbled out with no context whatsoever and the Captain felt as if he’d been punched in the gut.

 

“ _What_?”

 

Ianto took a slightly shaky breath. “When I die... don’t bury the body and don’t freeze it, no matter what.”

 

Jack closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down as anger raised its ugly head inside of him. He wasn’t ready to have that sort of discussions with Ianto and yet, he couldn’t find it in himself to deny him anything he wanted either.

 

He looked at his lover properly for what was probably the first time in weeks and wondered how he had been unable to notice it before. The exhaustion, the pain and the quiet, seething rage of helplessness that was carefully hidden behind his calm, indifferent eyes where all emotions seemed to die.

 

In the two months since Tosh and Owen’s deaths Ianto had done his best to fill the gap that had remained while Jack and Gwen hadn’t bothered to change their duties in the slightest Ianto was naturally good with computers and all sorts of technology and he had started reading all of Owen’s notes regarding human and alien biology as well as keeping up with his usual work at the same time, and Jack could see that it was taking its toll; that it had been taking it for quite a while. There were dark circles around Ianto’s eyes, he looked like standing up took all of the effort he was capable of putting into it and the suit that had been a perfect fit just a few weeks ago now seemed to be two or three sizes too big and made him look like a child in his father’s clothes. Jack had noticed his attention shifting from one thing to another all the time as he tried to focus on everything at once.

 

He looked terrible. And Jack had never loved him more.

 

The Captain stood up from his chair with a small sigh of resignation and neared Ianto, wrapping his arms around his waist and bringing him closer, keeping his eyes tightly shut as he tried carefully, “What brought this on?”

 

Ianto disentangled himself from Jack’s embrace just enough for them to be able to look one another in the eyes. “Just promise me that you’re going to do it.” His voice was quiet, but also firm and demanding and Jack gave a minute nod, mostly a sign for him to continue and that he was ready to listen than one of agreement. “You can do whatever you like with the ashes after that. Throw it all away; spread it... over the sea, over the world, in outer space...” He shrugged as if he was talking about the placement of a statue he didn’t care about in a garden that wasn’t his own and not the eventual remnants of his body. “I don’t really care all that much and I’m pretty sure it’ll be all the same for me at that point anyway. Just promise me you’re going to do it.”

 

Jack refused to give in for a few more moments before the intensity of Ianto’s bright, fierce gaze locked on him became too much to take, then he nodded and, as the word came out of his mouth, he realised that he meant them with everything he had.

 

“I promise.”

**o.O.o**

Hours later, while Ianto was in the medical bay and busy with dissecting and alien they’d found dead and that none of them – including Mainframe’s database – had nothing on, Jack was sitting in front of the computer on Tosh’s station, nit really doing anything except staring blankly at the screen.

 

There were few species in the Universe that had bodied dangerous enough to require incineration after their death, and even fewer that looked human enough to pass as one. Vendiri, for example, tended to burn their dead, but they didn’t actually have ears and picked up sound with a really sensitive patch of skin on their heads, so that excluded them. There were the Satyrians – Jack supposed that a contact with them some time ago had made humanity think of Satyrs – but they had legs that resembled a goat’s, and that wasn’t it too. He couldn’t think of anything else and that wasn’t all that surprising – he wasn’t really as informed as his employees thought. After all, he’d spent only about twenty years in an endless Universe and supposed that there were corners of it he hadn’t even heard of, so figuring Ianto out could take ages. It could also never happen.

 

Jack sighed and massaged his temples, trying to chase some of the tension away. He could always talk to Ianto, of course, but knowing him he’d immediately think that the Captain would lock him up or God knows what else. Going straight to the topic at hand had proved to be a bad idea before, and Jack strongly suspected that his lover would run away before he could finish his sentence.

 

Jack pushed himself off Tosh’s chair and wandered into the medical bay, for a few minutes just quietly watching Ianto as he worked away, neatly disinfecting the instruments he’d needed during the autopsy and placing them back in their rightful places before he started writing the alien’s characteristics in the catalogue he’d made himself.

 

The Captain descended down the stairs and placed his hands on Ianto’s shoulders, turning him around and bringing him closer for a kiss. He tried to pour everything into it – the trust, the understanding, even the blind faith in him and the quiet assurance that it didn’t matter what he was as long as Jack was aware of _who_ he was.

 

When Ianto finally pulled back with a small, questioning smile on his lips, Jack’s arms remained tightly wrapped around his waist as he whispered, “You’re a long way away from home, aren’t you?”

 

Ianto stared at him in astonishment, just like and completely different from their conversation in the office about an hour ago; his eyes shining and scared and grateful all at the same time.

 

“Yes.”


	5. Day Six: Wearing Each Other's Clothes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The alien they’re talking about is from one of the short stories in the Torchwood Magazine. I can’t remember the name now, so I’ll have to look for it, but what is told here is mostly what happened, even though the chapter is all by me, of course, so this takes place somewhere in-between the scenes of the story. There was a group of aliens that Torchwood tried to send back home with passing starships and the short story was actually told through the eyes of the one that couldn’t tell Jack and Ianto apart. I keep using the prompts as small parts of the plot, so I hope you like how it turned out.

 "Is that strictly necessary?" Ianto asked as he kept up the fight with the suspenders. "This is ridiculous."  


"He thinks we're the same person," Jack reasoned as he fiddled uncomfortably with the button of his suit jacket. "We're going to surprise him."  


"How does that include swapping clothes?" Ianto asked, exaaperated. "We can just do what we do and it'll be all the same."  


Gwen clicked her tongue and, through the sandwich she was currently eating, said, "He heard me calling for Ianto when we were chasing him in the hotel last night, so Ianto has to be the one in the suit, but I just bet that they won't let you in anytime soon."

 

Ianto's cheeks coloured lightly as he was apparently reminded of the chaos he'd caused and Jack found himself smiling. They'd had the case of aliens that had wandered on Earth by accident and were lost here for two weeks already and they'd already succeeded in sending two of them on their way home, but there was one that kept giving them trouble by hiding himself in a hotel where he only kept in touch with a selected circle of people. They had quickly realised that he thought that Ianto and Jack were the same person - he couldn't tell humans from one another very well and after all, they had the same colouring and were nearly the same height - and they were currently trying to use it as their advantage.

 

"It wasn't that bad," Ianto said, but his voice was sheepish; the tone he usually used when he couldn't find an excuse for the havoc that Torchwood left in their wake - or rather, couldn't find an excuse that would work in front of the police.

 

Jack gave a small cry of victory as he finally mastered the tie. "You blew up their restaurant."

 

"It was an accident!"  


"Say that to the smoking crater 'cause the staff won't listen," Gwen put in, yhrn left her place on the sofa with an irritated snort that could only indicate lack of patience and took Ianto's suspenders in her hands, draping them over his shoulders and buttoning them up. "See? That's how it's done."

 

Ianto shot her a grateful smile, then frowned as he stared down at his trousers - his for the moment, anyway. "They're still too big." He experimentally pulled at one of the suspenders and let it snap back into place and the Captain cringed. It was uncomfortable enough being dressed in Ianto's suit - which was, logically - too small and an inch too long and completely alien to his skin, especially with the dark blue dress shirt, the jacket and the black Burberry coat over it. Uncomfortable enough, indeed, even without Ianto violating his clothes. "Jack, these things are useless."

 

Jack threw a belt at him and then watched Ianto put on the coat. It didn't look as weird as Jack had thought it might; he didn't look like an actual Captain but mostly like a war hero and, combined with the rest of Jack's clothes, it suited him well.

 

Talking of suits... Jack looked down at his own attire and gave a long-suffering sigh. 

 

"It looks good on you," Ianto said, eyeing Jack up and down. "And once you get used to it, it's really not as uncomfortable as it might feel right now.

 

Gwen rolled her eyes as she watched them fidget with their new clothes and took the car keys. "Come on, we've got to be there in half an hour. Jack, you'll have to wait in the Bay because-"

 

"Half an hour?" Ianto interrupted sharply. "I thought we were leaving by midnight."

 

"What's does it matter?" Jack asked and they raised an eyebrow at one another as Ianto said, "I've got work to do in the meantime."  


"'Work to do'?" Jack repeated, incredulous. "What work?"

 

"Something I can't postpone," Ianto insisted sharply and Gwen wavered by the cog door, apparently wondering if she'd have to find the alien by herself. "It's not like he's going to escape." Ianto laughed, but this time there was a bit of a desperate note to it.  


Jack wasn't sure how to react. Really, he'd been stunned past words. Ianto was all for hunting, no matter what or who exactly was the victim, and he didn't really do anything out of work. The Captain was sure of it; what Ianto considered 'friends' were people who he'd talked to in University and who he'd never contacted again after that. He had a sister, but not once did he know of Ianto visiting her or talking to her in any way since he'd started working for Torchwood. He had never seen him behave like this, but then again, Ianto last days was even harder to see through than before.  


"What," Jack said, nearing Ianto and looking him dead in the eye, "What could possibly be more important than this?"

 

The anger in Ianto's eyes as a hissing breath left through his teeth was astonishing but, after a moment or two, there was a ground out, "Nothing."  


"Now that we have come to an agreement," Gwen's voice cut to Jack's mind and he turned to her. "Can we get going? Ianto, with me; we've got to wait for him when he comes back to his new room." Jack replayed the address of the new hotel in his head, just in case. "Jack, he'll come looking for Ianto for revenge for killing that other... whatever it was, and he'll track him down to here, so you'll have to be the bait." Jack and Ianto both nodded briskly. They'd exchange places by the time they'd have to get to the old hotel to see if he had left anything suspicious behind. The general plan was him taking Ianto's place wherever possible as killing him would bring much less damage while Ianto did his thing with the rest of the alien gang - the ones who were used to talking to Jack when it came to their escape from the planet.  


"Good." Gwen responded with a nod of her own, the three of them finally leaving the Hub. Jack watched as Ianto and Gwen climbed in the SUV and with a sigh leaned against the rails of the Bay, preparing himself for a long - and possibly fruitless - wait.

**o.O.o**

Jack was starting to get mildly annoyed. He’d been here for half an hour already and not as much as a leaf had moved, let alone eventually homicidal aliens and it was Sunday night, so he attracted attention by the passers-by even with him trying to act as casual as possible.

 

He shivered and pulled Ianto’s coat tighter around himself. It was shorter than his own - reaching to about his knees – and it was also black, but it warmed him up just as much and Jack stared into the sea, already bored and miserable, when he heard a voice coming from behind.

 

“Was there some contract during the creation of this city that requires the weather is always inconvenient? The bloody snow, too. Last time I was here it was hotter and wetter than a –” The woman’s voice died when Jack turned around. He knew shock when he saw it and he was staring at it right now; raw and overwhelming. “Ianto?” She tried as she approached him cautiously.

 

She was wearing a short white jacket and a pair of jeans and she appeared to be as cold as Jack himself was and there was a strange, crude communicator-like object in her hand. Her hair was the thing that stood out the most in the darkness – honey blonde and surrounding her face in wild curls that made it look like a halo – and, Jack thought as the pieces started clicking into place, her jeans showed off long legs that made her look even taller than she probably was. Tall enough that even someone with Ianto’s height would notice that she was taller than the average woman.

 

Jack realised, with a bit of a delay, that she had asked him a question.

 

“Sorry, no.” Jack smiled as politely and as detachedly as he could, trying to look like he had no idea what she was talking about and not like everything in his mind was calculating the fact that she had taken him for Ianto and had _expected_ to find him here.

 

“No, _I’m_ sorry; I just mistook you for a friend.” Her smile was giving away precisely the same signals as his own, Jack noted as she backed away and wished him a good night.

 

She was still just around the corner when Jack hid into the shadows of the already closed Tourist Office where he wouldn’t be noticed by the potential alien coming for him, and started frantically putting together everything he had.

 

So. This was the Canary Wharf woman. It had to be and she had apparently met Ianto before. In fact, Jack supplied to himself, it was probably her that Ianto had had to meet tonight. That was why it had been so important. Jack wasn’t surprised that Ianto hadn’t told him anything about it; everyone had their secrets and the Captain tried to respect that and still, there was something new. Something he hadn’t had before.

 

Another clue to Ianto’s origins.

 

He’d promised himself that he’d stop looking; that it didn’t matter because Ianto was who he was. But it was eating him from the inside and at this point, he didn’t even try to resist.

 

The woman mistaking him for Ianto from behind was understandable – after all, that was what they’d been aiming for. But then Jack had turned around, she had seen his face clearly and she had still asked. Softly, as if she’d been expecting it.

 

Who the hell expected the person they were supposed to meet to show up with a different face?

 

Jack felt like he had all the pieces now and yet, his brain was unable to place them together. All the signs were there and it was obvious, so painfully _obvious_ , and his mind just...

 

....avoided it.

 

Jack closed his eyes, hiding his face in his hands as he realised just why he had missed what was happening right in front of him. Why his brain seemed to just jump off the topic whenever it appeared in his head and why everything about Ianto that was out of place insisted on being right through the Captain’s eyes.

 

“Perception filter.”


	6. Day Seven: Cosplaying

“Now that’s just cheating.” Ianto simply smiled as he kept fixing his bowtie, looking at himself in the mirror from all sides and Jack gave him a look of distaste, insisting, “You can’t go as James Bond. That’s not even a costume for you.”

 

“It counts,” Ianto said as he started looking for his shoes. “And if you think you can pass as a World War Two Captain and call it a costume then so can I.”

 

“You changed your shirt and took your gun, that was it,” Jack protested, looking Ianto up and down. He had picked up a white shirt instead of the purple one he’d had on while they’d still been at the Hub, he’d replaced the tie with a bowtie and he’d called it a day, so Jack thought it was only fair that his own costume consisted of his usual clothes with a cap added to go with the coat.

 

Ianto sighed. “Gwen is going to kill us for this.”

 

Jack nodded forlornly. “We’re an embarrassment.”

 

“What is she going as?”

 

“Pocahontas, as far as I know.”

 

Which only made it worse, really, because she had put real effort in it, knowing that they’d need to look enthusiastic enough to get the approval of the UNIT folk, and the two of them had thought about all sorts of things and then settled on their usual clothes instead of actually buying a costume. They’d been invited on the yearly winter festivities in UNIT and had refused the offer for Christmas – nobody had any desire to be in the USA for the holidays – so they had settled on the Halloween party instead which, thankfully, would be held in London. Jack had watched Ianto with quiet horror as he arranged the hotel rooms and reservations as the Captain had said goodbye to any sort of personal space and time they might have to start the topic he so desperately wanted to start.

 

Barely a week had passed since they had sent the last alien from the group on its way and ever since, Jack had fought an exhausting but stubborn battle with the perception filter that descended back onto his mind on every opportunity it got. Even now, a voice inside him reminded him that it was completely normal for a human’s body temperature to be less than twenty degrees and Jack had to shake it off again and again. He had yet to mention anything to Ianto and, since the young man’s behaviour hadn’t changed in any way, Jack assumed that he’d been aware of his actual nature for quite some time.

 

The subject of his thoughts had apparently sensed the change in moods – or had felt Jack’s eyes on him, he couldn’t be sure – but Ianto frowned, his eyes searching Jack’s face carefully. “What is it?”

 

The Captain placed a hand on the side of his neck and brought him closer as if for a kiss and yes, there it was. The skin so cold that it nearly made him flinch back, and the steady pulse; two hearts beating under his fingers, slightly off-beat. Jack’s head started hurting simply from thinking about it but when he looked in Ianto’s eyes, there was no lie there – no attempt to hide anything, just the concern and the quiet question ‘Are you all right?’

 

Jack smiled tightly. “Nothing, just... this James Bond thing. It really suits you.”

 

Ianto’s face lit up and he laughed. “You know, if you’re still thinking of giving up the Captain role for tonight, you can be my Bond boy.”

 

“Does this mean that I’ve got to hide with you in uncomfortably small places and hold your hand while we run for our lives?”

 

“You can do it if you like,” Ianto shot back even though had picked up Jack’s tension; the Captain could see it and it was only confirmed when the smile disappeared from Ianto’s face and he bit his lip, stepping away from Jack and taking a deep breath. “We don’t have much time, so I’d rather go straight to the point. I know that you know.”

 

Deafening silence fell in the room as Jack desperately tried to think of something to say and Ianto kept talking – calm and collected as if he’d practiced it in front of a mirror. “And it’s getting easier every day, isn’t it? Easier to override the perception filter, to look right at me and see... me.” Jack just nodded. “And as immensely relieved I am that it doesn’t seem to matter to you... the time for this hasn’t come yet.”

 

“What do you mean?” Jack croaked at last, finally finding his voice.

 

“You weren’t supposed to know this, not yet, and I know what’s triggered it, but it’s confusing the timelines. There is a fixed point that will happen sometime in the future – not too far, I’d hope – but it can’t happen if you have the knowledge that you do now and... You know what the consequences would be. Don’t ask questions,” he hurried to add when Jack tried to speak. “You know that I can’t answer them yet. Just know that... I’m sorry. What I’m doing now is for your own safety; for the safety of all of us, so I hope you’ll understand.”

 

“Don’t make me forget.” Jack’s voice shook as he finally cut in Ianto’s speech. “It can’t be all that important for me not to know if I cooperate, but it’ll be easier for me, so please –”

 

“You’ve been a Time Agent, haven’t you?” Ianto asked softly. “You can feel it, can’t you? The time streams are changing, altering, and it’s not supposed to happen. You can see what will happen now that I’ve mentioned it, right?”

 

“That’s exactly the point,” Jack ground out. He could see the image Ianto was sending him in the mental link they’ve established sometime ago. It was a weak signal – still the perception filter, Jack supposed, but he could feel it. “You can’t just leave me without even a bit of hope and just suppose that I’m going to–”

 

“The fixed point will trigger events that cannot and should not be changed,” Ianto reminded sharply, but his eyes betrayed something different – like he was looking for absolution he wasn’t sure he’d ever receive. “I know it’s cruel, but you know how this _works_ , Jack. I can’t ignore the basic rules of the Universe.” His hands rested on Jack’s shoulders and his grip tightened as their eyes met. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But you won’t wait long, I promise.”

 

Ianto leaned in and a second too late some faraway place in Jack’s mind pointed out that his lover’s lips were unusually glossy. The realisation hit him just as their lips collided and then the world around him mercifully faded away.


	7. Day Eight: Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is – quite obviously – a filler chapter because I’m still going by the prompts and it was there. I know that it’s a stretch of it and that shopping is barely even mentioned, but it’s there, and I’m currently writing the Big chapter of the story, so I couldn’t pay it too much attention.

Jack had heard that old superstition millions of times and since the details were different on every planet, he had heard a lot of versions of it, too – that you had a limited number of heartbeats and that the faster it was, the sooner it would stop. It was ridiculous, of course; he knew enough about human biology to understand how the heart worked – but right now, he couldn’t get it out of his head.

 

Ianto had still not returned at that point and no one else had seemed overly worried about it – Gwen and Rhys had been talking, each sharing what they’d seen in the last few days, making suggestions and theories about the children and the alien that was controlling them while Jack had been pacing around, trying to do something that didn’t include sitting and panicking.

 

He wasn’t sure how it had all come to this. There he had been at the beginning, sharing subtle and not-so subtle touches with Ianto, both of them still healing from the betrayal and the wound left in Ianto after Lisa’s death. It had all been very patient and gentle and neither had asked for anything but comfort from the other. And here he was now, in an abandoned warehouse with Jack waiting for Ianto to come back, already desperate and scared that he’d been caught, that he’d been killed and a million other things and he wasn’t even sure _why_.

 

There was this general unease that reigned over him, and it drove the Captain mad. At first, he’d thought that it was something natural – it was his team he was talking about here – but then he’d looked at Gwen, only to realise that the feeling wasn’t there. He was worried, yes, but nothing to this extent, when it actually had to be her he worried the most about – she was pregnant, after all – and yet there was so much calmness around her, like an aura, despite her own apprehension – that he was completely sure she’d be all right.

 

When Ianto finally came back – bringing gifts for everyone, including Jack himself who had truly felt like he had survived the explosion only when he had got his coat back – the unease not only did not disappear but seemed to get stronger and later at night, when Gwen and Rhys were already asleep, he shared it with Ianto.

 

He could barely see the man in the darkness of the warehouse, but he could feel his heart under his fingers – his pulse racing like the heart of a trapped bird, stumbling over its efforts to go even faster as Jack spoke and the Captain couldn’t understand the reaction, but the thought he’d had before – the old superstition he’d tried to ignore – came back to him with full force.

 

The warehouse was almost completely dark, save for the fire they’d kept to light up the place, and Jack could see only the fine contours of Ianto’s face as his lover whispered, “Don’t be ridiculous, Jack. I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.” It was the voice of reason in a world that had gone insane days ago and still, Jack realised that the reassurance hadn’t helped. The fear was still there, eating him from the inside out.

 

“I can’t help it,” he murmured. It wasn’t cold by any means – it was already summertime, after all – but he had thrown his new coat over the both of them as if it would shield them from the rest of the world. It felt like such a childish thing to do and yet, it made him feel better.

 

“You could have been caught today,” jack scolded softly, bringing Ianto closer to himself. “You could have been killed, do you understand that?”

 

“Jack.” It was a single word but Jack immediately fell silent as if it had been a command. It had been like that ever since the beginning – Ianto had automatically taken the leading position in their relationship and that had been a surprise to neither of them. Jack was the Captain, yes, but he was also just a soldier forced into leadership by the circumstances and Ianto enjoyed – and was capable of – taking charge of everything and everyone around him. “I chose to do this job years ago when I chose to work for One and I’ve never once regretted it since. No, never,” Ianto insisted when Jack gave a snort of disbelief. “Not even in the darkest moments. I’ve always thought it would be better to go out in flames when I choose to do so instead of quietly fading away into the night.”

 

“Really?” Jack’s voice was sharper than he’d intended it to be, but he couldn’t stop himself. Couldn’t even _imagine_ why someone so young – not even a quarter of a century yet – would like to waste the years that he had in something that had so far brought him mostly pain. “Let’s look at it this way, then: what if you were given the choice between having one year – just one year – left with the aliens and everything else, or a happy, long life without them? Actually happy – you get everything you want from life save for the aliens. What do you choose?”

 

Even in the near-darkness, Ianto’s eyes told him everything he needed to know.

 

“Why?” Jack whispered, genuinely unable to understand. “What for?”

 

“Because I can’t even imagine it and when I do, it doesn’t seem very appealing,” Ianto admitted quietly. “The happy, long life. I have no idea what it means – well, I do, from movies and stuff, but I can’t see how I would fit into it. What would I do? I’d be content, not happy – and believe me, there is a difference. I’d have a long time to delude myself that I’m doing great when really, there would be a big gaping hole inside of me where something is always missing and is just out of reach.”

 

“And what would that thing be?” Jack asked, his voice unintentionally quieter and Ianto smiled at him in the dark.

 

“I don’t know. I’m only halfway there yet.”


	8. Day Nine: Hanging Out With Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, today’s prompt was ‘hanging out with friends’. As you can also see, I’ve got a sick sense of humour for using it like this.  
> Okay. Big Reveal Chapter part one; River explanation soon to follow. I hope I did this one well because it’s one in the morning and I have to study so much in the actual morning that I’ve got to post it now, half asleep, so I’d be really glad to know what you think of it.

Jack was already dosing off – and was immensely grateful for it – when the doors of his room burst open.

 

Only half-awake, he reached blindly for his gun, only to realise that it wasn’t there. The starship he was currently inhabiting had a strict rule about weapons and demanded said weapons to be left behind once you came on board. He blinked several times, confused, as the man who had entered stared at him almost accusingly.

 

The man was tall, in his mid-twenties, with light brown hair that fell over his eyes. He kept looking at Jack and, after a few seconds, narrowed his eyes and asked suspiciously, “Where is he?”

 

Jack blinked again. “Where’s who?”

 

“The other one. River told me he’s with you.” And with that, the man pulled something that looked like a golden stick out of his coat pocket and started beeping around with it as it started letting out a humming noise and a bright green light.

 

Jack frowned, sleep slowly leaving both his mind and body. He’d seen something similar before. It had been smaller and silver and its light had been blue, but it had the same feel to it.

 

“Is that a– hey, where did you get that? Who are you?” It hadn’t occurred to him to ask that before and that wasn’t as unusual as one might think – making a constant home out of a starship meant that you could go through all sorts of... interesting happenings every once in a while.

 

It had been three months since the House of the Dead and, after getting his Vortex Manipulator from Gwen, he’d left the planet with the first ship that would pass by. He had to escape, no matter how wrong it had felt – he’d felt the need to run away more than he ever had and perhaps, he had thought in several moments of desperate optimism, maybe if everything around him was completely new, he wouldn’t have to remember. So far, that plan had failed miserably.

 

The man disappeared under the bed and, after a minute or so, his head – his hair was dishevelled and dusty, but compensated by a huge grin on his face – showed up on the other side of the bed and he pulled himself up to a sitting position. “The trace is still around!”

 

“Wait a second here,” Jack interfered warily, gripping the man by his shoulders to stop his from moving when he made to stand up, but any questions died on his lips as the man winced, as if in pain. The expression on his face was familiar – and not in a good way, considering the words that had accompanied it – and there was something in his eyes... “Doctor?” He asked incredulously, trying to grasp the idea that this rather inadequate man was the one jack had admired and loved and looked up to.

 

“The one and only! Sorry for the face change.” The Doctor stood up and faced Jack expectantly. “Now. Where is he?”

 

“Who are you looking for?” Jack asked, still feeling a bit disoriented; the whole situation seemed surreal enough for him to doubt that it was actually happening. He was surprisingly calm about it all but then again, why shouldn’t he? He had seen the Doctor change before. The shock wasn’t as painful as last time, even if this regeneration was completely different from the ones he’d known.

 

“The other Time Lord. River told me he’s with you and the TARDIS could trace you by DNA, so I thought–” The sentence came to an unsure pause. “You do know him, don’t you?”

 

Jack felt tempted to ask who River was – she had been mentioned twice until now – but tried to focus on the task at hand instead. He didn’t want to be the one to break it to the Time Lord, but it wasn’t like he had a choice. He shook his head. “Sorry, no. Maybe at some point in the future, though.”

 

The Doctor shook his head, clearly troubled, and ran a hand through his messy hair. “No, you were supposed to know him already. I think – you were supposed to have met in Torchwood; she told me the name he passed around with, something really–” He flailed his arms, as if trying to draw the name with them. “Really _Welsh_. He wasn’t supposed to be Welsh, but you know what, Time Lords usually pick up the accent they hear first of a language and–”

 

“Ianto,” Jack cut off the Doctor’s enthusiasm. “His name was Ianto Jones.” His voice was even but on the inside, everything was burning. It was that calm-before-the-storm state when everything in his mind quieted down just before the explosion. There was a cold, passive realisation in him: _so that was it, then_ – but he did nothing to acknowledge it on the outside. “You’re late. He’s dead.”

 

“He can’t be,” the Doctor shot back immediately. “He’s – that’s ridiculous, he was young. He can’t have wasted all regenerations.”

 

So that was it indeed. Jack had spent months trying to figure out what Ianto was and suddenly, nearly a year after his death, in storms the Doctor and starts ordering Jack around, adding even more pain to a wound that hadn’t even began to heal. “He has, apparently, because he’s dead.”

 

Jack wasn’t sure why he kept repeating it. Maybe because it had the power of the solid, single truth that could kill any flicker of hope so he wouldn’t be even more hurt later when it would prove to be a false one.

 

“He can’t be,” the Doctor insisted “No, he– He has to be out there somewhere.”

 

The Time Lord looked so lost and so heart-broken that Jack felt sick.

 

“It’s really important now, isn’t it?” He asked quietly. “He remembers being like you and suddenly he’s the most significant being in all of Cosmos. But you didn’t even try to save him. You didn’t watch him suffer and die in a matter of minutes while you were absolutely helpless; while you were hoping, _praying_ that a kiss would be enough to bring him back. You weren’t there when he sealed himself into the Rift, so don’t you _dare_ come and tell me how much it hurts just because–”

 

“The Rift?” The Doctor interrupted and a strange sort of powerlessness took over Jack.

 

“Are you even _listening_ to me? What I was trying to say was–”

 

“He sealed himself into the Rift? What happened?”

 

“I wanted to speak to him,” Jack found himself saying, despite everything. “Just to say goodbye, just to try and... see if I could make it right. Everyone went to the House of the Dead to see their loved ones, but they were echoes, nothing more, and Ianto– he was real. I’m not sure how, but he had been taken out of time, just a few days before his death, and placed here.”

 

“Extracted at the end of his timeline,” the Doctor said under his breath. “It’s been done before, but what _for_?” The Doctor didn’t wait for an answer – and Jack wasn’t sure he could provide one anyway – but started pacing around, mostly in a circle as he went on. “Never mind that. If he fell into the Rift, that means that I– that we can still find him!”

 

Jack’s tirade froze before it had had the chance to unravel itself. “What?” He could barely hear his own voice.  “No, he– he practically fell into the Time Vortex. He couldn’t possibly have survived. No one could have.”

 

The Doctor shook his head, excitement burning in those new, unfamiliar eyes. “No human, no. But you keep forgetting something. He’s not.”

 

**o.O.o**

Jack was still taking in the new interior of the TARDIS as the Doctor ran round the console, already giving explanations and answers to the Captain’s numerous questions.

 

He still felt as if he were in a rather realistic dream and was, embarrassingly, afraid that it would turn out he hadn’t woken up at all. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d dreamt of something like that – of a way out of a situation that he couldn’t fix; of a world where Ianto hadn’t tricked him on coming out of the House of the Dead while being fully aware that he’d never leave it himself, because really, it was Ianto. Ianto wouldn’t let the world burn just so he could live and Jack should have had known better but really, he’d been so stupidly relieved and hopeful at the time that he’d completely glossed over that.

 

So perhaps that was why he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was dreaming. In the morning the Doctor had came after the last thing he’d done with Alonso – probably aiming for compensation and an apology that he didn’t realise would mean nothing – and he’d told him that he could not only find Ianto but that he could bring him back to Jack. It felt like a second chance – the first one he’d properly got one of those, really – and Jack didn’t think of the Doctor’s motives any longer, because it didn’t matter. As long as he could find Ianto, it didn’t matter.

 

“Have you got anything of his?” The Doctor asked as reappeared by Jack’s side. “Anything that might have any trace left of him so I can find him with it?”

 

“Yes,” Jack said, finally coming out of his trance as his brain started working on full force. “Yes. I’ve got his watch, will that do it?” When the Time Lord nodded, Jack pulled Ianto’s pocket watch and handed it to him. “He took it everywhere with him, so there has to be something left. If it doesn’t work, I think I have a shirt of his that I nicked before the 456 attack.”

 

“No, that should do it. We’re looking for a distress signal I suppose?”

 

Jack shook his head. “No, I’m afraid. We’re looking for Ianto. I’m not really sure he knows what other people use distress signals for.”

 

 The Doctor had already placed the watch in something that looked like a scanner on the console. All the screens suddenly fired up and the whole room started shaking – both him and the Doctor gripping the nearest surface for dear life – only to stop abruptly seconds later.

 

“Doctor?” Jack prompted while the Time Lord stared at the coordinates with the expression of someone who had just been sent to a certain death but also found the idea of said death extremely boring. “What’s going on?”

 

“I’ve got him,” the Doctor said quietly, that childish excitement from minutes ago returning. “He’s in our Universe and I found him but...”

 

“But?”

 

“Someone’s found him before us.”

 

“Where is he?” Jack pushed the Doctor away and took his place in front of the screen, but nothing in the coordinates really rang a bell. “Doctor, what is happening to him?”

 

“Nothing, probably nothing,” the Doctor hurried to assure him although he didn’t look all that certain himself. “It’s just... they’ve got technology that can work in both of time and space. They can see the Vortex if they want to and they’ve probably picked him up. His presence alone was messing everything up–”

 

“Who are they? How did he get out?” Jack felt like the slowest kid in the class but, considering that he was also the only kid, it probably wasn’t all that bad. He was desperate for something, _anything_ , and the Doctor was apparently talking mostly to himself.

 

The Time Lord looked around, as if struggling to find the right words for explanation, then nodded to himself. “You know when you eat something and it’s too hard to chew on?”

 

“ _What?”_

 

“Just imagine that. You can’t chew on it because it just insists on not being chewed on. What do you do?” Before Jack could even criticise the poor choice of a metaphor, the Doctor answered his own question. “You spit it out. And that’s what happened because a human would have been scattered into atoms in there – the Vortex would be too much for them to bear – but a Time Lord? He’s looked into the Vortex when he was a child and it can’t break him now, but he’s still there. He’s still falling. So what does the Vortex do? It tries to get rid of him.”

 

“Okay. So the Rift spat him out. Where?”

 

“He could fall anywhere. Any time, any planet, any Universe there is, but someone detected him and brought him out forcibly.” The Doctor closed his eyes and leaned against the console, rubbing his forehead as if the action could chase the situation away. “The Shadow Proclamation.”

 

“No.” It was denial but sounded more like begging and Jack realised it fully. “No. They have nothing to do with this.”

 

“Time Lords are the stuff of legend, as they call it,” the Doctor explained as he stepped away from the console and neared the door. “We’re not supposed to exist and, since they found one, they’ll either start examining him or... who knows.” Jack made to follow, but the Doctor shook his head. “You stay there. Immortal humans are more than these narrow-minded creatures can–” His voice died when he opened the door and even though Jack couldn’t see outside, he could see the Doctor’s suddenly humble expression accompanied by a small smile and a ‘hello there’ before the door closed behind him.

 

Jack wanted to scream and shout and throw things at the Doctor for leaving him there like he was a minor annoyance in a trip that was solely about the Time Lord himself, but he did none of it, mostly because a rather large part of his insides had currently turned into a ball of nerves and expectation.

 

Ianto. He could see Ianto again, alive and breathing and not a ghost Jack had resorted to just so he could see him one more time. He would be properly real and the thought made jack’s heart flutter even as he heard someone shouting at the Doctor outside to ‘explain what is happening right now or suffer the consequences’.

 

It felt like hours – and he really couldn’t tell if it _had_ been in the timelessness of the TARDIS – before the wooden doors sprang open and the Doctor came in, practically carrying another man along.

 

“Ianto!” Jack’s voice was choked as he stood up from the floor and approached them, taking him in his arms, deaf to the Doctor’s protests as he searched Ianto’s face only to find it deathly pale with his eyes closed and his whole body convulsing. “Ianto? Doctor, what’s wrong with him?”

 

“His body is designed to resist the Time Vortex, but his mind isn’t,” the Doctor said as he helped Ianto up the stairs and then sat him in a chair. “All the possibilities going through his head all at once, it’s a terrible paradox, I’m surprised he hasn’t regenerated– Hey, hey, take it easy.” He took Ianto’s hand as the man tried to stand up and Jack was torn between the happiness that blossomed inside him and the horror of losing him again if something went wrong. “The TARDIS is helping, that’s why I brought him in. They’ve held him like that for two weeks; God knows what’s happening in his head. Don’t go near him, you’ll only make it worse!” he snapped as Jack reached for Ianto’s hand.

 

“No,” Ianto rasped and, to Jack’s great surprise, he was looking at the Doctor. “Let him. Jack...” He turned around blindly and Jack shifted into his immediate field of vision, a small smile curling his lips despite everything. “Ianto?”

 

Ianto returned the smile, even though his lips were trembling and his eyes were still wildly turning from one thing to another; things invisible to anyone but him. “Hello,” he said softly, the accent the Captain could recognise everywhere rolling over the words hesitantly, and that was when Jack knew he’d brought him back. He pulled Ianto into a tight embrace, feeling for the first time the ice cold skin and the racing hearts and everything seemed so completely right for the first time in so long that he wanted to cry.

 

“Hello.”


	9. Day Ten: With Animal Ears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, these prompts keep getting weirder all the time. Hope I handled it well. Now that I looked at the list of prompts, River will take a few more chapters and I’ve already thought her chapter through so... I hope you enjoy this one for now.

When Jack found Ianto, he was curled up on a couch in the TARDIS’s library and he was, by the looks of it, completely engrossed in whatever it was that he was reading. “How did you find me” He asked anyway without so much as lifting his head.

 

“The doctor told me where you’ve gone,” jack admitted as he carefully sat down next to his lover. “I’m sorry. It must hurt; knowing that there’s no one left.”

 

Ianto shrugged minutely. Gone was the confident, self-assured man he’d been in the last days before his death; he seemed small and alone and still sickly pale from whatever treatment the Shadow Proclamation folk had given him and he was so thin that Jack could practically cut his finger on most of his bones when he tried to embrace him.

 

“I already knew they were gone, but hearing it confirmed... yes, it hurts.” He took a deep breath. “I keep remembering more and more and... my family, all my friends – they were in there. In the hell of the war and they still are, because it’s not really gone. It’s Time Locked and that only makes it worse. Is it wrong that...” Ianto licked his lips, apparently unsure of what he wanted to say. When he did, the Captain could barely hear him. “Jack, is it all that bad that I want to go back there?”

 

 

Ianto had came back mere hours ago and Jack was still trying to grasp the idea of it all. The Doctor had helped him with his memories by projecting some of his own into the younger Time Lord’s mind and making him remember the same places and people (much to Jack’s delight, Ianto had been pleased to meet the Time Lord now his face had changed. The Captain supposed that the last one brought only painful memories – after all, he reminded himself, for Ianto Canary Wharf and the Dalek invasion weren’t that far back in the past), and now Ianto was sitting here, completely broken by the idea of everything and everyone being lost and unreachable in time.

 

“Tell me about it,” Jack said in the end, instead of an answer. “Tell me about the war.”

 

Ianto smiled bitterly, then placed his book on the table in front of them. “When I was born, we were already as close to a war as we could get. The tension was building up every day and we all knew what would follow. I craved to be out there. I wanted it so much; to fight in the war as if it would bring me everything I had ever wanted – I’d be acknowledged, admired and I’d fight for what I believed in at the same time. When I was accepted, I felt as if all my dreams had become true.”

 

“And then you realised that war is much more than that,” Jack guessed but to his surprise, Ianto shook his head.

 

“Not really. Not at first. It was just like I had imagined it would be. My parents worked in the government, so there wasn’t really anything exciting that had happened until then and the war was new, it was an _adventure_. I got to be the hero, the saviour. I met some of the best friends I’ve ever had there, especially when they made me a junior Commander. I was good at what I was doing and didn’t care much about my own life but... there were people who disagreed.

 

“It was like the children they sent in the countryside during World War Two,” Ianto continued after a short pause. “Only they did it without me knowing it. I was injured – a bad wound, but not fatal, so I was out of it for a while, and my mother took the advantage. Re-set my memories, then sent me with the first starship that could get me to any planet that had managed to stay out of the Time War, and Earth was one of the pieces of the Universe that was still standing. So there I was – twenty years old, with the memories of a human, totally lost and not really knowing who I was. And there came Torchwood – probably the closest to home that I could find, which is a terrible irony.” When Jack didn’t react to the attempt at a joke, Ianto just sighed and took his hand. “That’s all in the past, Jack. I’m fine. I really am.”

 

Jack wanted to ask him if he could remember his death – if he would tell Jack that he was fine if he knew that he’d had to witness _that_ – but he didn’t need to, as Ianto picked the thought up himself.

 

“I remember two timelines,” he said, his hand making absent-minded circles on the surface of the couch. “In the first one, I die, but it feels more like... I don’t know, like a fragment of my imagination. The second one is that I woke up and you rang me that we had to see some doctor from the hospital because there was something alien in a man’s body and they’d find it in the post mortem, but then, ten minutes later, you rang again and told me that the House of the Dead was a more pressing matter and we had to go immediately.”

 

“How long ago was that for you?” Jack asked quietly and Ianto shrugged. “I don’t know. Two, three weeks at most. You?”

 

“A year. It’s okay,” he hurried to add when he saw something resembling pity in Ianto’s eyes. “Like you said, it’s in the past. It doesn’t matter.”

 

Ianto smiled and, without another word, brought him closer for a kiss. Jack had yet to get accustomed to the unfamiliar details – he felt like he was now seeing and sensing Ianto in his entirety instead of the human version he’d adored kissing just as much before – but he tried to push the thought away. There would be time to discover Ianto from the beginning if he needed to. If the Time Lord was completely unlike the Human, then Jack knew he would manage to find all differences and learn to love them one by one all over again.

 

Ianto’s hand slid into his hair and then Jack felt him freeze into the kiss and pull back, his eyes careful and unsure. “Jack, I’m not sure how to ask this but... have you got cat ears?”

 

Jack felt strangely embarrassed under Ianto’s curious eyes. “Ah, yes. That’s part of the reason why the Doctor sent me to find you. The planet we’ve landed on – Gunthra – has some sort of bring-your-own politics when it comes to humans so I can’t come out unless you introduce me as your slave.”

 

Ianto frowned. “What century is this?”

 

“Year 3 025 436,” Jack said, already having taken Ianto’s trains of thought. “So yes, humans have started to evolve.”

 

“And that’s why you need cat ears?” A small smile was tugging at the corners of Ianto’s lips. “Why are we going there at all?”

 

“The Doctor said that you’ve told him about being there once and he thought it might... you know, help with the memories you haven’t got back yet.”

 

Ianto nodded slowly, lost in thought. “I remember it Sort of. My squad was sent there to establish their position in the war. They didn’t want to fight, of course – what do you expect of a race controlled by a super-computer – but wanted to send their slaves into it all, so we preferred to let them maintain their neutrality.”

 

“I’ve heard that it’s a beautiful planet,” Jack said when Ianto didn’t make a move to get up and walk out of the library. “Their birds are translucent and someone once told me that there’s a whole forest full of plants that glow at night.” His voice had an almost pleading edge to it now because honestly, the Ianto he knew would be out of the door in a second and while he understood that the sudden shock of having lost your entire _planet_ was unbearable, he still had to get the Time Lord out of whatever state he was in.

 

“Yes, there is,” Ianto said with another smile as he got up and dragged Jack after himself. “So come on, Kitty, we’ve got a planet to visit.”

 

Jack glared daggers into Ianto’s back as they made their way back to the control room, but the man’s laughter was very much worth the cat jokes he knew he’d be the victim of for we


	10. Day Eleven: In a Theme Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it’s a short one, but I’m still trying to write by the prompts and I’m getting closer to Big Reveal Two. Also, it’s one in the morning. Again. So I hope I did well.

“No, no, I keep telling you, we’re going nowhere extreme until you’ve recovered fully!” The Doctor narrowly avoided bumping into Ianto as the man appeared right in front of him yet again.

 

“Oh, come _on_. That’s not even dangerous. It’s designed to be suitable for _children_. And plus, I’m feeling perfectly well.”

 

The Doctor ignored him and kept putting some coordinates of God-knew-where into the console. Ianto leaned against one of the panels and gave his best smile as Jack watched from a nearby chair, rather amused by the argument since it had started. “Come on. I bet you anything you like that I’m tall enough for any ride.”

 

“Ianto...” The Doctor started, his voice pained, then sighed. “Okay. Fine. It’s not like I can stop you anyway.” He started pulling at the levers again – as pointedly unhappy as he could, Jack noted – and Ianto’s face lit up. With a delighted grin, he looked at Jack with eyes that clearly side, “Well come along, why don’t you?” and then he was out the door before anyone could say anything.

 

“An amusement park,” Jack commented, nearing the Doctor. “He’s– well. Ianto.”

 

The Time Lord nodded. “All the better. He’s supposed to be like that. He’s basically just a child; of course he’d want to have fun. Not really a _child_ ,” he hurried to add when Jack’s head napped up to look at him, alarmed. “He’s matured because of the war and because he was considered an adult when he was mostly human, but everything he’s repressed has got to go somewhere; it’s got to come out. How old is he?”

 

“Twenty-five,” Jack replied immediately. “He’ll be twenty six in– about a month, I think. It depends on how you see it.”

 

The Doctor shook his head. “He’s barely lived, really. No wonder he’s so full of energy,” he said fondly. Jack couldn’t help but notice that the Doctor had started developing some sort of fatherly protectiveness over Ianto and he dreaded the day when he would most likely get the ‘you better take good care of him or so help me’ conversation.

 

“Where are we?” Jack asked as he threw a glance over his shoulder to the screens behind him that showed the outside world. The ground was rocky and brownish, but a lighter tone of it than Earth’s and the sky was a deep, rich green and the forest – what he could see of it – looked like the highest branches of the trees reached straight to the sky itself and the colours blended with one another.

 

“That would be Otho!” The Doctor was in his element again. This one liked being the tour guide much more than the last one Jack had properly travelled with – and that had been when he had still been with Rose because really, a year that had went horribly wrong couldn’t really count as a holiday – and he gave them the full introduction every time. Both Ianto and Jack had something to say sometimes and steal his moment, which was usually treated with an undignified huff. “In the Flaxia System. Lots of sea and one single continent that goes from pole to pole. It’s not populated by settled citizens – some of the insects in these forests are carnivorous – but it’s the entertainment centre of this whole system and of half of this galaxy, so I thought he might like it. Plus, I saw him reading Harry Potter – he seemed pretty much into it by the way – and if you just look outside...” The Doctor fiddled a bit with the camera until it showed a different point of view. “Ta-da!”

 

Jack leaned in to see better and when he did, his eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline.

 

Outside was a castle – a real one, with its towers and walls and everything else – and a few mountains behind it. The space in front of the gates was crowded and Jack spotted Ianto nearby, leaning against a tree and tapping impatiently with his foot on the ground, apparently waiting for them to come out.

 

“It’s completely like it’s meant to be, even better than the one you’ve got on Earth,” the Doctor said  and his voice sounded a little higher with the pride he felt in himself, and Jack couldn’t help but see how different he was from his past selves. “No roller coasters, I’m afraid, but he’ll love that one even more. Everything, just like in the books. Even Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. You can buy anything you like, you can go to the classes or the dormitories and there’s even a Sorting Hat that can tell you where you belong – how cool is that? – and...”

 

“Doctor?” A questioning look was his only response. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

The Doctor looked scandalised. “You haven’t heard of Harry Potter.”

 

“Of course I’ve heard of it,” Jack scoffed. “I’ve just never read it or seen the movies.”

 

“Yeah, well, Ianto mentioned something about being a Slytherin, so we’re in for a day in the dungeons.”

 

Dungeons did not bring happy memories and at this point Jack realised – a rather belated realisation, really – that what the Doctor and Ianto considered amusement wouldn’t be something he would like very much.

 

**o.O.o**

Ianto did turn out to be a Slytherin, whatever that meant. He took the green badge with the snake that was offered to him and stuck it in front of his shirt with pride, which was a rare and endearing thing for Jack to witness because really, the James Bond thing he could understand – Ianto had a soft spot for secret agents of any sort – but him reading books about a boy going to a magic school was something new entirely. The Captain thought that he should have seen it coming because if there was a person in this world – or any other he could think of – was remarkable for still finding the miracle in a world that didn’t do anything to pay back any of the favours he gave it, that would be Ianto.

 

The Doctor’s test passed with a few disturbances. Jack was told that it worked on an entirely psychic level and the hat had started blurting out everything at once before going between Slytherin and Ravenclaw and, after a pause, proclaiming him as a Slytherin too.

 

Jack took the sorting thing mostly to please Ianto and the Doctor and, after the hat told him – apparently only he could hear it at first – a few truths he hadn’t been exactly prepared for, it had shouted out to the room, “Gryffindor!” and it made Ianto and the Doctor exchanged glances that were somewhere between intrigued and sceptical.

 

Ianto was having the time of his life, that much was obvious. For once, there were no shadows in his eyes as he took in everything with that bright curiosity Jack had started loving so much as the Time Lord pointed out details that the guide or the Doctor had missed. The Captain had even had to listen to a few arguments between the two of them on several topics. Things got especially heated when they got back to the TARDIS and the subject of the necessity – or lack thereof – of Sirius Black’s death was brought up.

 

It was something new, definitely, but he was rather enjoying it, Jack thought as he listened to them. Yes, there was running for their lives and there were the ridiculous things that Time Lords found important to think about way too often, which didn’t really go well with the emotional baggage of the three of them combined, but it was _his_. And he wouldn’t change it for the world.


	11. Day Twelve: Eating Ice Cream

Watching Time Lords fight over books – or sometimes politics – was amusing, but it really, really wasn’t when they were furious. Especially when they’ve narrowly avoided death – or, well, what passed for death for the three of them. Jack could almost feel the anger that was pouring off of them and they were attracting attention even in a place where a civil war had just ended.

 

“You didn’t have to kill him,” the Doctor was saying, addressing both of them but mostly Ianto. “It was all over; he was harmless!”

 

“He’s killed thousands already; you think he’s going to stop just because the war is over?” Ianto’s voice was disbelieving. “Because if so, you’re even more naive than I thought, and that’s saying something.”

 

The Doctor turned around swiftly and wrenched the gun from Ianto’s hand and that marked the point where Jack decided to interfere. It didn’t even cross his mind that he might do anything with said gun and still, he preferred the two of them without any weapons around in the state they were in.

 

“He did what he thought was right, Doc,” he said peacefully. “And I can’t really blame him. Pyxis deserved it. Hell, he deserved something worse.”

 

“Prison,” The Doctor said quietly, the fury still burning in his eyes and his voice. “What he deserved was prison.”

 

“What difference would it make?” Ianto put in and the Doctor turned to him again, this time almost shouting, “It wasn’t your choice to make!”

 

Ianto laughed incredulously “And _you_ are the one who has any right to tell me that, aren’t you?” The Doctor tried to speak, but Ianto cut him off. “No, you will listen to me this time. You keep going on and on how you can’t expect anything good from someone who entered the Time War by choice, but you know what?” Ianto stepped closer to the other Time Lord and stared at him dead in the eye. “I wasn’t the one who ended it, _Doctor_.”

 

There were several moments of stunned silence, then the Doctor turned around and walked into the TARDIS, slamming the door shut behind himself.

 

Ianto sat on a nearby bench – or rather something that resembled one – and hid his face in his hands, not moving even when Jack sat down next to him, rubbing his back soothingly. The Captain looked around in the destruction that reigned around them – there wasn’t really much to do and he didn’t fancy going after the Doctor right now.

 

“What d’you think – do they still sell ice cream?” He asked, pointing at a nearby sweets stand. Ianto raised his head and smiled. “Do they even have ice cream on this planet?”

 

“Sure they do. Every sensible race has invented some variation of ice cream at some point. Come on,” he insisted when Ianto didn’t show any enthusiasm at the prospect. “Learn something new every day, that’s what you always say. Why miss the opportunity? They might even have some exotic flavours you might actually like, you pretentious man.”

 

“Me? Pretentious? Never.” Ianto grinned and stood up, following closely after Jack as the Captain determinedly headed for his destination.

 

**o.O.o**

They ended up getting chocolate ice creams, Ianto’s accompanied by strawberries and Jack’s with caramel on top of it and it turned out not to be their brightest idea, especially when Ianto started moaning that he had a headache fifteen minutes later.

 

“What is it with you and ice cream?” Jack asked as he licked the last remnants of his own ice cream from his fingers. “Seriously, I thought it might be fixed now. Lower body temperature and all that.” He turned around to see that Ianto’s face had lost its smile and he was lost in thought again. “He had no right to say what he did,” Jack offered gently, but Ianto shook his head.

 

“Neither did I, really. It was cruel.”

 

“But so was he,” Jack protested. “I’m sorry. That – it went like that. For both of you.”

 

“Don’t be. Maybe that was it and we’ll stop blaming each other for that; he’ll stop saying that it was people like me that started it and I’ll stop throwing in comments that do nothing but rile him up.” He fell quiet for a while, then kept going. “You know, I wanted to kill him. That’s what I said when River told me that he was the one to put them in the Time Lock. I wanted to find him and kill him, but then he found me and... I don’t know. He suffers for it every day, you know. I can feel it. It eats his alive and I’m not even happy that it’s like that. I feel _sorry_ for him.”

 

Jack searched through his mind desperately for a thing to say, then blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Is River some sort of Time Lord Information Centre?” He couldn’t help but remember that the Doctor had mentioned the same name when he’d came into Jack’s room looking for Ianto and there it was again.

 

Ianto laughed quietly. “No. River’s a–”

 

Just then, the door of the TARDIS opened behind them and the Doctor came out and his eyes danced between them before settling on Ianto. He gave him a questioning look and the younger Time Lord only nodded in response, and that was it. Jack couldn’t stop the sigh of relief from leaving his lips.

 

The Doctor smiled, then held up the psychic paper for them to see. It was filled with some chaotic scrawl that Jack couldn’t make out before the man pocketed it again and said, “In you get, and I want you in both in the wardrobe in fifteen minutes.” He seemed more excited than Jack had ever seen him, and that was saying something. “We’ve got mail.”


	12. Day Thirteen: In Formal Wear

“So! Arion. A relatively new colony, obsessed with doing everything by the book – the Earth edition – and also strangely always managing to get everything wrong. Their culture resembles the one in ancient Greece but they’ve got mostly monarchies that actually work like shires and we’re invited to a wedding from one of the monarchs. Well, I am; you’re my plus two. The prince – Myar – is marrying princess Valentia with the blessing of both their families. Put a royal blue element in your clothing – they’ve taken the ‘royal’ part very seriously.” The Doctor pointed at his bowtie – now indeed a royal blue one – as if giving himself as an example “You’ve got half an hour so you better get started.”

 

He gave them the thumbs up and made to leave, but Jack called, “Doctor? Who was the post from?”

 

“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said and Jack watched with mild curiosity as Ianto looked up from the shirts he was going through, suddenly interested. The Doctor gave the other Time Lord a small nod – as if in an affirmative – and Ianto beamed in response.

 

 

**o.O.o**

“Okay, so what exactly is going on?” Jack demanded when Ianto straightened his tie for the hundredth time. “Really, you’re always fusing about your clothes but by doing the tie thing yet again, I think you just passed to the next level.”

 

Ianto’s cheeks coloured lightly. “It’s just– you heard the Doctor. It’s important.”

 

Both Jack and Ianto had chosen their shirt as the royal blue element, but Ianto had made the effort to look even better than usual – and Jack had hardly believed that was possible – and he’d picked up the best suit he’d been able to find – it was completely black, and made of some fabric that seemed to fine to be human-made. His hair was the result of careful and dedicated work and Jack narrowed his eyes.

 

“Who else is coming?” He asked suspiciously. “It’s the mail person, isn’t it?”

 

“Might be, yes,” Ianto said, fidgeting uncomfortably with his cuff links. “And if it is, you’ll get to meet River. You were just asking about that when the Doctor called us in.”

 

Jack nodded slowly as he put on his coat. “Okay then. You ready?”

 

Ianto just smiled tightly. “Ready.”

 

They made their way back to the control room where the Doctor had already started up the engines and Jack watched as Ianto – trying to fake casualness and failing miserably at it – leaned against the door, only to jump back and stare at it expectantly when they landed.

 

The door opened from the outside and several things happened before the Captain could even blink: Ianto’s face broke into a huge grin, there was a gasp from the outside and then a fury of gold and blue threw herself into Ianto’s waiting arms.

 

Oh. Well. So River was a woman. A very, very beautiful woman at that, he couldn’t help but notice as she and Ianto pulled back from the embrace and stared at each other in awe.

 

“Hello,” she said, a hesitant smile on her face which Ianto returned immediately and then let out a small, nervous laugh when she slapped him on the arm “You useless idiot. I thought you’ve screwed it up. I came looking for you three months after your death and what do I find?” She didn’t give him the chance to respond. “Nothing! Well, not you, anyway.”

 

“It took a bit longer than expected, but... I made it. I always do.”

 

“I didn’t expect anything else. By the way, Arion, really? How was I supposed to find a dress for the early 34th century? Good thing the last ball in Luna was a fancy dress party with the Middle Ages as a theme.”

 

Jack looked her up and down, now not distracted by the sheer _familiarity_ she and Ianto apparently shared, and saw that he couldn’t look at said dress for too long without risking blindness. It was blue – the shade of blue hey all currently had on their clothes – and strapless, the top of it accompanied by some silver-like gems. It was perfectly fitting the body from the top to mid-thigh and glitter was everywhere, save for the lowest foot or so of the front. She was wearing a sapphire necklace to go with it and her hair – curly, golden blonde – was shining on the gentle light in the TARDIS.

 

“It’s amazing,” Ianto said and pulled him out of his thoughts. “Why are you in prison?” He asked as he too picked up the sirens outside and the distant sound of steps as the Doctor hurried to dematerialise them. “Last time I met you, you were in University.”

 

“I graduated! But then... some things happened. Not that I mind too much. I break out when I feel like it, but when I decide to return, there’s a free bed waiting for me.”

 

“Is that a principle you always live by?” Ianto asked with a small smile and River smirked. “Are you speaking from personal experience?”

 

“You know I am.”

 

“I know you are.”

 

Jack coughed, perhaps more noisily that would be strictly necessary, and they both turned around to look at him just as the Doctor decided to interfere. He had an expression that Jack was quite sure matched his own – one of unsure indignation that was written all over his face. “River, this is Jack Harkness. Jack, meet River Song.”

 

River approached him, the glitter on her dress shining even more as the light changed and she smiled as she shook his hand. Her grip was firm and her skin was probably just a few degrees warmer than Ianto’s.

 

Someone needed to tell the Doctor that he didn’t need to worry about Gallifrey. If after supposed genocide two other Time Lords – and the Master – had turned up already, then there was quite a big possibility that all the others were fine too.

 

“Nice to meet you,” she said with a dazzling smile. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

 

“Good things, I hope.”

 

“Some of them, yeah.”

 

“So, er–” His eyes danced between River and Ianto. “When– Why– _How_ did you two meet?” Last he had checked, they were in the fifty-second century.

 

“Oh, we go back.”

 

“How far back?”

 

River’s smile was positively blinding now. “All the way.”


	13. Memories of the Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is the longest chapter of anything I’ve ever written, but it was worth it. I think. (By the way, this is why I don’t name chapters – I suck at it mightily). It’s a flashback because it’ll be much more interesting to get the story first hand than River and Ianto telling it to Jack and the Doctor.   
> Time Rings, for anyone who doesn't know, are devices very much resembling the Vortex Manipulators, but they're black and Time Lords made them. They did indeed become actual rings later on; I think Ten had one in one of the books.  
> While we’re on references, the songs used (I couldn’t resist using them, sorry) are Only if For a Night by Florence and the Machine and Read My Mind by The Killers.  
> The final sentence feels a bit out of place but I wasn’t sure how else to do it, so I hope I did well, considering that it was also the first one from Ianto’s point of view. As always, enjoy the chapter and I’d love to hear what you think because I’m still kind of hesitant about how it turned out.

_And the only solution was to stand and fight_

_And my body was bruised and I was set alight_

_But you came over me like some holy rite_

_And although I was burning you’re the only light_

Darkness. Complete darkness everywhere and not a single sound to give Ianto any idea of his surroundings. He walked forward with one hand in front of himself, the other still uselessly clutching his semi-automatic. It didn’t do any good against the Daleks or Cybermen when they were still around and it wouldn’t do any good now if he was threatened – mostly because it was completely empty.

 

He stumbled over something and the surprised yelp died in its wake as he realised that it was a body. One of many. There had to be, what, twenty people apart from him who had survived? He could hear voices from above; he could feel their pain and confusion.

 

And just as the thought had appeared in his head, the others’s feelings were suddenly overwhelming. Everything – all their emotions and sorrow and fear – were mixed in his head and he tried to reach out for Lisa, but she was too far away; maybe three or four floors above him. He couldn’t find any trace of her in his head, but she had to be there. She had to be.

 

Ianto blindly groped for the nearest wall and leaned against it, trying to remember the basics of the mental shields. _Breathe slowly,_ Yvonne had told him. _In and out. In and out. Think about who you are. None of these people in your mind is actually you, so push them away. Push everything away until you’re the only thing remaining._

Oh, but it hurt. It hurt so much. In a moment of helpless anger, Ianto wondered what the use of taking lessons personally from the head of Torchwood was if he couldn’t deal with this now. After all, he’d been found by the Torchwood Institute at all because of the emphatic abilities he had. Our technology could sense you from the other end of London, Yvonne Hartman had said as he had looked up at her, stunned, from his place in the university library and asked himself – and her – what would one of the most influential corporations in Great Britain would want to do with a first year History student.

 

Ianto could feel all the other thoughts – foreign and unfamiliar and yet so similar to his own – take over his mind just as light pierced through the darkness.

 

He blinked, his eyes unaccustomed to actually seeing, and tried to look past the beam of light. It was a torch, he noted, held by a woman that was approaching him briskly. In her other hand, she was holding a sonic blaster that he was quite sure was the same one he’d repaired and filed just a few days ago. A part of his confused mind wondered if she wasn’t an angel, because there seemed to be a halo around her head – like he’d seen it drawn in Russian paintings – before realising it was her hair.

 

She nudged him in the shoulder with the blaster, keeping him up against the walls as his legs threatened to give up the fight. “Hey!” Her voice was sharp, but melodic. “Hey, you! Don’t you dare faint on me.”

 

“It’s so much,” he managed. “I can’t fight them. There’s just so much–”

 

“I know.” Her grip on his shoulder tightened. “But you need to pull yourself together. Remember what you’re doing. Why do you need to keep going?”

 

“Lisa,” Ianto breathed and the chaos of thoughts and feeling in his head started to quiet down. “I need to find Lisa.”

 

The woman smiled and patted him on the shoulder as she realised that he could finally stand by himself. “That’s right. Off you go!”

 

“Wait–” he started, but then gave up. “Thank you”

 

“You’re welcome.” Her tone wasn’t letting anything show, but he recognised the expression on her face.

 

 

**o.O.o**

Ianto was getting restless and that definitely wasn’t good. It was only his first week at Torchwood Three, barely three days had passed, and when he wasn’t taking care of Lisa or he wasn’t making coffee or cleaning the place for the dysfunctional bunch downstairs, he really wasn’t sure what he was _supposed_ to do here. The tourist office was too warm, the air conditioning was terrible and Harkness was watching him like a hawk on the CCTV feed, he was sure of it, so really, he could do with going home and sleeping for about two days.

 

He wasn’t sure what the point of Three was, really. Nobody actually had any sort of preparation to deal with this sort of thing and nobody knew what they were doing. Owen was an asshole that Ianto would throw out of the window if they had any. Suzie was competent but Harkness paid too little attention to what she was doing down there in her station and Ianto was pretty sure that soon enough it would backfire spectacularly. Harkness himself was an annoying git – has been ever since Ianto had seen him in London, really – and didn’t give a damn to what Ianto was doing as far as he would bring him his drinks and documents and flirt a bit. He was mostly harmless, though, which he hadn’t expected. Toshiko was the only professional of them all and she was also the only one who didn’t treat him like a drinks machine, even if she was quite shy with everyone, and so far they’ve got along quite well, but still...

 

The small bell on the door jingled as it opened and pulled Ianto out of his thoughts. He straightened his back, trying to look as professional as possible. “Hello, how can I help– It’s you!”

 

He had recognised her instantly, despite the fact that the last time he’d seen her it had been complete darkness around them. She was dressed in black jeans and a long white shirt with a denim jacket over it – which didn’t differ too much from the current fashion – but there was something else about her. She _was_ really remarkable, but even that wasn’t the main reason.

 

You couldn’t just forget the face of the person who had saved your life.

 

“Yes,” her voice was carefully controlled and for the first time Ianto noticed that she was royally pissed off. Her eyes – somewhere between green and blue, like the colour of the sea when the sun shines over it – were blazing and her lips were pressed into a thin line “And I have to talk to you. _Now_.”

 

Ianto nodded briskly and tapped his comm. “Sir? Would you mind if I close here for a little while? I’ll be back in an hour.”

 

“Sure, why not,” Harkness’s voice responded immediately. “D’you mind getting us something to eat on the way back? I’m starving.”

 

“Of course, Sir.” Ianto made sure his voice was the embodiment of politeness and he hoped he sounded eager enough to help. After all, that was what he’d been hired for.

 

He made his way out of the tourist office, the woman following right behind him, and ended up right on the corner of the Millennium Centre – the only blind spot for cameras he could think of. Torchwood had made him paranoid enough for him to take cameras into account wherever he went, but maybe it was better that way.

 

As soon as he stopped, the woman hissed, “What are you doing here? What did I take you out of One for if you had to come _here_? Are you _insane_? Are you purposefully _trying_ to get yourself killed? Because if you are, I might have a hard time preserving history.”

 

“Wait a second,” Ianto started when she paused to take a breath. “Preserving history? What does it matter to history if I die or not?”

 

It had been an honest question and that was why he stared at her in bewilderment when the woman started laughing. “Oh, honey, you have no idea.”

 

“I want to, though,” Ianto insisted. “You’re from the future, aren’t you?”

 

“You seem very calm about it.”

 

Ianto shrugged. “I’ve seen worse. You know who I am, you talk about time as if you can change it... it only makes sense. Three years of Torchwood and a lot of sci-fi would do that to you.”

 

“Three years?” The woman seemed interested now. “So you started when you were, what, twenty?”

 

“Yes,” Ianto confirmed. “But what does that have to do with–”

 

The woman sighed as if he was being extremely uncooperative, then said, resigned and rather irritated, “Never mind that now. I’ve come too early. So sorry, but...” She fiddled with a device on her wrist for a bit – something that stirred a memory that Ianto couldn’t quite get the hold of – that looked like a bracelet  with a wide silvery circle on top of it and he thought _Time Ring_ out of a sudden, only to shake the thought off a second longer. “See you in a minute.”

 

And with that, she turned the silver circle on top of the bracelet and was gone before Ianto could object.

 

**o.O.o**

Ianto was rather grateful for coming home at a reasonable hour tonight. The storm outside was only getting worse by the minute and he wanted to have a few hours by himself. It wasn’t like he hadn’t anything to think of.

 

God, he had never guessed that Jack’s presence could be so tiring. Two days since he had returned and it had thrown all of Ianto’s newly-remembered sense into a complete chaos. It was pleasant – sort of – because his mere existence seemed to bring a bit of silence in Ianto’s head – a head that was now full of memories and knowledge and feeling that had belonged to him once, years ago.

 

Now that he could remember it all, everything in his life seemed to make more sense than ever. The way his memories of his family and friends and general childhood had always been vague and he had never tried to return to them too much; the way he was always drawn in by the alien, the unknown – everything that would scare the normal human off.

 

Not much of a problem anymore, since he wasn’t exactly human.

 

The war was all he could think of now. He longed to go back to his team, back to the war and to the flames which he’d welcomed gladly if they meant that he could protect someone else. Now, stranded here on this indifferent, blind planet was slowly killing him and he would give anything, anything to find the way back to Gallifrey – too far away and just out of reach at the same time, because Torchwood had the technology to contact species passing by. If he could only be left alone long enough to establish connection with a ship that could go all that way–

 

There was a knock on the door and Ianto stood up from his couch, frowning. Who could it be at this time of the day? If there was an emergency at the Hub, they would call and he wasn’t exactly friends with everyone in the building.

 

In front of his door was a woman he’d been waiting for – desperately – for the last half a year (or a year and a half; it depended on how you looked at it and Ianto wasn’t sure it was optional even for him), soaking wet, with two books she had pressed to herself under her jacket – under which she was wearing a knee-length black summer dress and heeled sandals.

 

“You came back!” was the first thing Ianto managed to get out before he moved away from the door, letting her in. “You said you’ll be back in a minute!”

 

“I am. I went to the bookstore and here I am. Well, about ten minutes, really. And I had help,” she lifted her wrist to show the device that had been there last time. “Half a year for you, yeah?”

 

He nodded as he took her jacket and placed it on the bench next to his keys. “Couldn’t you teleport straight here? There’s a storm outside.”

 

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” She shook her head and raindrops fell all around them. “Have you got any clothes here? I could take a bath in this dress.”

 

As Ianto rummaged through his wardrobe, he wondered why it was that he took her presence as something so natural. She had showed up twice without so much as an explanation of who she was and what she was doing there but then again, his life could hardly classify as anything normal. Maybe that was it. It was natural because with him, weird was the natural thing.

 

He took one of his shirts and brought it to the living room along with the only jeans he had left here. “Where did you get these from?” She asked, looking the jeans over critically.

 

“They’re Lisa’s.” By the look she gave him, Ianto was pretty sure that she knew what had happened. “I’m not sure if they’ll fit, but they’re the only ones I’ve got unless you’d like mine and they’ll fall off you.”

 

“Fair enough.” She put on the jeans under the dress, then took it off over her head and tossed it on the couch.

 

Ianto was aware of the taken aback look he had probably given her, because she smiled a bit condescendingly. “Are you bothered?”

 

“No! Not at all.” He bravely fixed his eyes on her face as she buttoned his shirt up. “Anyway... who are you? Last time you told me that you were too early. Too early for what?”

 

“I’m River Song. You’re... well. You’re my midterm subject. It’s not an easy thing to hear but hey, you should be flattered.” She laughed at his stunned expression. “Now it makes sense, right? Why I saved you in One.”

 

River Song. It was a beautiful name and he had the nagging feeling that it wasn’t the real one more than Ianto Jones was his actual name. “You saved my life so you could get more information for your midterm?” Ianto inquired, quite sure that this would be the first and last time he’d ever ask this question.

 

“Not exactly. I had to write about notable time travellers and actually the most notable ones are the Doctor, me and you, so...”

 

“I hate to say it,” he really did, “but the Doctor is more interesting than me.”

 

River scoffed. “I know more about the Doctor than the Doctor knows about the Doctor. It’d be boring. And I can’t know anything about myself, so... I chose you.”

 

“I’m actually going to be in history books some day?”

 

“Not all people get in history books because they’ve done good things, Ianto.”

 

“They’re still there, though.”

 

“You know, people like you either burn down the world or rise up the Universe.” It wasn’t supposed to be a compliment, but the smile she accompanied it with said something else. “I _like_ you. Well, I obviously do since we’ll hang around together one day, anyway. I couldn’t look up too much on that; personal timelines and all that jazz. But I’ve seen us on pictures together along with... well, other people, but I can’t discuss that.”

 

“So you basically want an interview?”

 

“Not really. I know all the historic facts and my teacher said that it’s okay to only follow to where future me is not involved. I mostly wanted to, you know, get a hang of the place, I bet I’ll get extra points if I show the emotional insight of it.”

 

“What are you studying?”

 

“Archaeology.”

 

“Have you thought about Journalism? I think you’d be good at it.”

 

River laughed wholeheartedly before shaking her head. “Not really. A little insight is great; too much of it gets in the way of my work and that’s happened too many times now.” There was a pause, then she continued, as if unsure how to pose the topic. “I also thought you might want to travel. I can imagine what it’s been like for you to stay here when you could be anywhere.”

 

Ianto nodded. When he’d remembered who he actually was, it had been after the biggest time shift he’d ever experienced and the memories of a year of everyone from his team dying still lingered on the back of his mind, even though he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to know anything about the Master and the Toclafane and the horror that had disappeared in a second, leaving him somewhere in the Himalayas with all his teammates in perfect health, different memories and a heart more than before. Ever since then, he’d been feeling like he was being kept in a cage.

 

“That’s a Time Ring, isn’t it?” He asked, nodding at River’s device.

 

“Yes, although why it’s called that when it’s a bracelet is beyond me. I found it in the TARDIS; it’s so packed with all sorts of stuff there that I bet he wouldn’t even notice it’s missing. That thing’s older than dirt, mind; it’s barely working.”

 

“You’ve been in the Doctor’s TARDIS?” Ianto asked as he leaned in and started examining the Time Ring. It _was_ old, that much was sure. “By the time I was born, they were actual rings, much easier to use. I even had one, even though I didn’t use it often. Can you use this to get me back to Gallifrey?” Ianto asked all of a sudden, realising what the potential of this was, no matter its age. “I can’t just leave them there. My team is still waiting. What is it?” He asked when she just shook her head.

 

“Ianto, I... I thought you know. The Time War is locked. Both Daleks and Time Lords are in the time lock; you can’t get there. Nobody can, not anymore.”

 

“What?” Ianto was aware of just how shaky his own voice was. “No. No, it can’t be. Why would anyone do that? We had every chance of winning. _Who_ would do that?”

 

“Who do you think?” River’s voice was just as quiet as his own. “The only one left.”

 

“You’re like me, aren’t you?” While it had been disbelief that made his voice shake before, it was definitely anger now – not directed at her, of course. River nodded and he wasn’t exactly surprised – he had sensed it the moment she’d came through the door. “How did you get out, then?”

 

“I didn’t. I’ve never seen Gallifrey.” She wasn’t trying to make it sound dramatic; she was just stating facts and yet, it was the cherry of a cake that had been building up for ages.

 

“You’ve never seen– I’m going to kill him”

 

“Ianto...”

 

“I am. I swear the moment I set my eyes on him, I’m going to _kill_ him.”

 

“What good would that do?” River asked unceremoniously, apparently not at all intimidated by the threats addressing a man she obviously knew. Or at least, she’d visited his TARDIS. “Really, tell me. How would it help? You’d just kill one of the two remaining ones of your species. It won’t bring them back and Ianto, trust me, he did it because he had no choice. The Universe had been falling apart. You’ve got to admit it.”

 

Ianto didn’t say anything but, for the first time in half a year, allowed himself to cry. River didn’t say anything but he had the vague idea that at some point she’d invaded his bed while he’d been lying on the couch all night.

 

_The good old days, the honest man_

_The restless heart, the Promised Land_

_A subtle kiss that no one sees_

_A broken wrist and a big trapeze_

River came and went whenever she pleased and Ianto learnt to expect her to be there at all times. She ate his food, rearranged his furniture, wore his clothes and slept in his bed – on several occasions while _he_ ’d been in said bed – and she did it with the air of someone who felt they had the right to do so. He found out that she was just three years older than him, having turned twenty-eight in February, and studied in Luna University. He’d heard of the place before, of course, while he’d still been on Gallifrey, and asked her all sorts of questions of what it was like. They sometimes spent hours – mostly at night since Torchwood consumed his days and she was dabbling with visiting him, visiting the Doctor and studying – talking about what they’d seen before. He told her of Gallifrey and she talked about the future.

 

On a few occasions, they even visited other times and places with her Time Ring and Ianto usually had to explain his injuries to a rather concerned Jack on the next day, but he simply couldn’t get enough of it all.

 

**o.O.o**

“Oh, no shirt, then!” The cheery voice sounded behind him as Ianto looked for something to wear in his wardrobe. “Can we make this a thing?”

 

He glanced over his shoulder. “Only if we can make the dress you wore last time a thing – hey, is that my shirt?”

 

River shrugged innocently and sat on his bedroom cabinet. “It might be.” It was a burgundy red one and she’d paired it with high heels in the same colour and a light blue pair of jeans. It was an undeniably attractive look, but he still pointed out, “It is. And I’ve been looking for it.”

 

“You can’t wear it tonight anyway.” She had picked up the note left on his bed. “It says casual here. You wouldn’t know casual if it hit you with its car.”

 

“Have you looked at your shoes recently?”

 

“Shut up and let me have a look.” River pushed him away from the wardrobe and started going through everything she could find. “Goodness, is there anything here that could even _approach_ casual?” She gave a small cry of victory as she pulled out a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt he’d had since London and passed it to Ianto. “There you go.”

 

“I can’t wear that,” Ianto protested immediately. “I don’t even know why I bought it. I’ll look ridiculous.”

 

“No, you won’t,” River said decisively and sat back where she’d been before. “I think I saw a pair of combat boots in the hallway. They’ll go nice with the outfit and I can help you fix your hair.”

 

Ianto grudgingly started dressing in the clothes she’d given him while River threw in pensively, “You know, you going out on a date was supposed to be in the history books. Who cares if you’ve saved three planets at once? You and ‘date’ is a much stranger concept.” Ianto threw her a dirty look over his shoulder. “Who’s the one who managed to get you out of your lair?”

 

“He’s a part of the lair. It’s Jack.”

 

“Jack?” He nodded without looking at her. “Really, though? You’re going on a date with _Jack_?” River had never seen anyone from Torchwood, but she knew basically everything about them from him.

 

“What’s wrong with Jack?”

 

“Nothing. I just didn’t think he was your type.”

 

“You’ll find that if you work with only four other people with pretty complicated inter-relationships and you have no right to tell anyone outside what your job is, your options are severely limited.”

 

“You’ve got a point.” River stood up, took his hair gel from his hands and onto his hair and started to carefully shape it. “I was wondering how you would feel for a little bit of a mission in France before that? Pre-French revolution, but just barely. There’s a necklace I want and I don’t feel like robbing museums.”

 

Ianto glanced at his watch. He had half an hour until his date with Jack but then again, they could get back in time whenever they liked.

 

Before he could stop himself, he took her hand and nodded.

Hours later, when they rematerialised in a side street near the club Jack had chosen for tonight, Ianto found out that he didn’t want to pat with her. River seemed to read it in his eyes or, perhaps, she felt the same way, because she leaned in and for a moment it looked like she was about to kiss him before changing her mind and dropping a kiss on his cheek.

 

“You don’t want to know what’s in my lipstick,” she said with a smile at him probably disappointed look. “And I don’t want you to be out cold for the rest of your date. See you around.”

 

“See you,” Ianto echoed as she disappeared into a small cloud of smoke and, after taking a deep breath, he turned around the corner and headed for his date.

 

**o.O.o**

Their routine – if one could call it that – went on for months before one morning, Rive showed up at his flat with the look of someone who had very, very bad news and wasn’t sure how to deliver them. She also seemed upset and Ianto didn’t want to push it, but after a few minutes of tense silence, she told him herself.

 

“This summer – I can’t tell you the date, but it will be this summer – Torchwood will have to visit London. And, from what I’m seeing... this is where you’re going to die. It’s a fixed point; I can feel it.”

 

Ianto’s mouth had suddenly went dry and he tried to speak besides that fact, but it didn’t come out very well. “So I’ll have to regenerate?”

 

“No, you’ll have to _die._ You death triggers a long line of events that must happen, or...”

 

“Or what?”

 

“I don’t even know! Many things. The Rift will open; a good amount of people will die. It’s closely connected and I’m not even sure how, but... that’s how it is.”

 

“All right then. How do I do it?”

 

River seemed surprised. “How do you do what?”

 

“How do I repress my regeneration? Because if I’m going to die, I’ll have to do it. This is my first body and I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before.”

 

Ianto wasn’t sure what she found in his eyes and what connected her thoughts to his but suddenly, her expression became horrified. “Do you actually think you’re going to die? As if, die and never come back?”

 

“Well, you did say–”

 

“But I also told you we’ll meet at some point in the future, you berk!”

 

“Time can be rewritten!” Ianto tried to defend himself, his face flushed in indignation.

 

“And you were ready to do it?” River asked incredulously. “You were ready to die, just like that, because the Rift would open otherwise?”

 

“Of course I would, I’m–” But none of them learnt just what he was because River pressed her lips against his, her kiss passionate and fiery and before he could stop himself, Ianto was responding to it with similar enthusiasm, feeling as if all his senses had suddenly went berserk. He had never felt anything like that before; it was like he could see the Universe turning the way she saw it and, from the way she gasped into the kiss, he supposed that it was the same for her.

 

When they finally broke apart, they both fixed their eyes on the floor, then looked up with identical smiles that clearly said _I know_. Not just to what they’d experienced, but to everything else as well; the ultimate understanding all packed up in a kiss.

 

River pressed something into his palm and Ianto looked down to see that it was one of her lip gloss things. “That’s for the Captain, in case he starts suspecting something about your nature.” Ianto felt a stab of guilt at the thought of Jack but it was quickly silenced as he kept listening intently. “I know that you don’t want to hurt him, but if he finds out, you’ll have to make him forget. It’s crucial that he shouldn’t know anything about it until your death, okay?”

 

Ianto nodded briskly. “Okay.”

 

River smiled and kissed his cheek. “Meet you tomorrow night in front of the Tourist Office for more information,” she said as she set the coordinates to her Time Ring. “See you soon.”

 

It had turned into a farewell of theirs because neither knew when they’d actually meet again – even though they met in linear order, it was still quite difficult to arrange an hour and a place considering the lives they led. “See you.”

 

Quite some time passed before they met again.


	14. Day Fourteen: Dancing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to short chapters, I guess. Just thought you’d like to know that this story is now planned chapter by chapter until the end of it, so I hope everything goes according to plan. For those of you who have doubts conceived by the last chapter and this one – worry not, I will keep the original couples in their canon order. The Ianto/River thing is a bit of a story arc into the big story arc and I rather enjoy it, and it’ll soon be cleared up, because from now on chapters will be pretty much connected to one another without big time spans between them.

Ianto and River were the stars of the show. The whole dance floor had cleared up so people could watch them waltz around the room, and Jack couldn’t really blame them. It was a captivating sight and the couple whose union they had came to witness had demanded to see them two dancing as a gift.

 

An Arionian waltz lasted fifteen minutes and went through three different phases, all of which had different rules for the dance, the rhythm and the dynamics of the two partners. They were currently in the middle of phase two, and Jack was already getting twitchy.

 

“I hope you’re feeling just as uncomfortable by this as I am,” Jack said snidely, leaning closer to the Doctor without actually taking his eyes off them. “This is all your fault.”

 

The Time Lord looked at him, annoyance written all over his face. “How is this _my_ fault?”

 

“It was very thoughtful of you to _not_ bring a present,” Jack hissed. “Seriously, you knew the dress code, but you had no idea that they still did wedding presents here?” He himself had never visited the planet – nor had he heard of it, really, so he supposed it was too far away from the colony where he’d grown up – so he’d had no idea what was to be expected of them. The Doctor had no excuse, though.

 

“It doesn’t matter now, does it? And plus, it’s just a dance. You’re reading too much into this. You humans and your caveman– has nobody told that boy to keep his hands to himself?”

 

Jack smirked triumphantly, even though his heart wasn’t in it. Actually, if he looked very carefully, he would most likely find that River had stepped on it with her five inch heels about an hour ago.

 

He wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much. It didn’t look like anything had actually happened between them and yet, there was some sort of easy, comfortable feeling that reigned between her and Ianto that troubled him. Ianto had never been truly open around him; not even now when there was little left to hide between them.

 

Jack had waited for so _long._ No one had any right to steal that from him. Not even devastatingly pretty Time Ladies he had knew nothing about until an hour and a half ago.

 

The song finally ended and, under deafening applause, River and Ianto returned to their seats, both flushed but apparently pleased with themselves. “Are you up for a dance, Doctor Song?” The Doctor immediately put in and River raised her eyebrows, then shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

 

“Ianto?” Jack asked as the dance floor slowly filled again. His lover gave him an intrigued smile. “You want to dance to this?” Ianto asked sceptically. “You?”

 

“Yes, c’mon.” Jack stood up and offered him a hand which, after a moment more of hesitation, Ianto accepted.

 

**o.O.o**

“I know what you’re doing,” Ianto said casually as they waited along with the other couples for the second part to begin. “And you really don’t need to, you know.” When there was no response, he continued, his voice gentler this time, “You do know that, don’t you?”

 

Jack wasn’t sure how to form the words; how to tell him that seeing Ianto lose all of the human memories that had once defined him was scaring the hell out of him and that, no matter how selfish it was, he was afraid that one day he’d look at his lover and he’d realise that Ianto Jones was gone and that someone else entirely had taken his place. He apparently didn’t _have_ to say it, though; Ianto seemed to have picked it up anyway, if the almost-unnoticeable smile was anything to do by. “I know how you feel,” Ianto continued as the music started and they began dancing again. “I know that it’s – hard for you, but trust me, there is nothing for you to worry about.”

 

“I’m not worried,” Jack said at last, trying to preserve the last remnants of his pride. “It’s just... She’s in prison, Ianto.  She never said what for, and I suppose you know that Stormcage is one of the best guarded prisons in the known Universe.” Ianto just nodded. “Are you sure that being friends with her is that much of a good idea?”

 

“The Doctor trusts her,” Ianto threw in, his voice as off-handed as it could get, and yet Jack caught the hidden meaning. “And you tend to trust him more than you trust me, so I don’t see the problem.”

 

“Don’t make this about me,” the Captain returned tersely, then the betrayal that was gnawing at his insides made its way to his mouth. “She knows more about you than I ever had and she knew you for, what, a year? Even now, you didn’t share with me half the things you have with her. And you two... even the Doctor noticed that...”

 

“If you’re going to tell me off for flirting, Jack, then you’ll be even more of a hypocrite than I thought you were. And that’s saying something. And plus, what does it matter?” Ianto asked mildly as they swirled around. “It’s just a way of communication. You two are completely different people. I mostly talked to her about Gallifrey. It was supposed to be her home world, and she’s never seen it; it was only fair.” Ianto’s crystal blue eyes locked with his. “So you can calm down now.”

 

The Captain didn’t break the eyes contact for a few more moments, searching Ianto’s face and finding it as closed as it always was and yet somehow honest, as if he was asking him with his whole being to believe him.

 

Jack pressed his lover closer to himself and spun them around as the music reached its crescendo and the lights above them started shining brighter all of a sudden, bathing them in the light of a thousand suns.

 

“Yes,” Jack whispered, pressing a kiss to Ianto’s cheek. “Yes, I suppose I can.” 


	15. Day Fifteen: Making Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. I’m trying to pick up after the mess I’ve made. I’m sorry, my mind is just doing whatever it pleases. Now, though, I’m back to barely-paying-attention-to-the prompt sort of chapter and... I’m sort of satisfied with how this chapter turned out and I hope you will be, too.

As they made their way back to the TARDIS, Jack had to practically keep Ianto up to stop him from losing his balance. The Doctor and River were a few feet away behind them and looked perfectly fine, and Jack couldn’t be sure if they hadn’t drank anything or if Ianto’s inability to hold his liquor had transferred to his Time Lord body, too.

 

“Jack,” Ianto moaned. “I think I might be sick.”

 

“And I think you might be drunk,” Jack muttered as he hooked an arm around Ianto’s shoulders. “Wait until we get back indoors, eh? From the impression I’ve got from these people, it might be an offence from a death-penalty range if you throw up in the king’s gardens.

 

Ianto nodded solemnly, then seemed to pick up the first part of Jack’ words and frowned. “I’m not drunk.”

 

“You sure about that?”

 

Another nod. “Time Lords don’t get drunk. It’s because of the two hearts. The blood goes faster.”

 

The blood goes faster. Not drunk at all, then.

 

“Ianto, what have we said about you drinking anything stronger than beer?”

 

“Never again?”

 

“Precisely.” The only two times Jack had seen Ianto drunk had both ended tragically. The first one had been on their annual Christmas party and Ianto had thrown up over a Weevil. The second time they’d been tied to trees on the beach during an alien invasion and he’d promptly fallen asleep minutes after that. Jack didn’t want a repetition of any of these cases, no matter how cute Ianto was when he was drunk.

 

“We were talking about rum then,” Ianto said pensively. “And that here was...” he sighed. “I have no idea, really.”

 

Ah, here they were. Jack opened the door of the TARDIS and they walked in as the ship’s warm, pulsing lights welcomed them. Ianto suddenly perked up and, if that was the Old Girl helping, then Jack was immensely grateful for it.

 

“Bed?” Ianto asked hesitantly as he leaned again one of the rails. “The room’s started going round and round. You see?” Oh, so that’s how it worked. With Time Lords, it was everything at once – plus the hangover, probably – and then they just stopped being drunk as if there was a switch. He was pretty sure that for Ianto, the room was really turning about. “We might get the Doctor to look it up,” he said, trying hard not to laugh. “I’m all for going to bed, by the way.”

 

Once they had managed to find their room – with the TARDIS moving it closer for convenience, Jack noticed – Ianto didn’t even wait for Jack to take off his boots before he pulled him closer and kissed him. He tasted of several alien beverages and something that resembled honey and Jack found himself responding, even though he knew it was a bad idea. Ianto wasn’t exactly himself right now, but ever since the Doctor had brought Ianto on the TARDIS several weeks ago, it had all been chaste kisses and hugs and cuddles and, as enjoyable as that could be, Jack craved for something more.

 

Ianto’s kiss was hard and insistent and his arms roamed down Jack’s back to press them even closer together as he turned them around in a surprising display of balance and pulled the Captain down on the bed with him.

 

“You’ve been holding back on me,” Jack said with a breathless laugh as he found himself on his back with Ianto over him, now pressing butterfly kisses down Jack’s checks and his neck.

 

“I didn’t want to scare you off,” Ianto mumbled, his voice so quiet that Jack could have missed it had it not been the complete silence around them.

 

“What?” The Captain asked softly, popping up on his elbows. “Why would you scare me off?”

 

Ianto lifted his head. His face was flushed and his eyes were dark and yet, there was some sort of franticness about him that Jack couldn’t quite understand. “I can feel what you feel, Jack. I can feel what _anybody_ feels if I try. And you...” Ianto’s eyes started wandering around the room and finally went back on Jack’s face. “You want him back. Your Ianto. The human version. And I’m not that, no matter how hard I try. You miss him and I’m not enough to do the trick. I’m sorry.” Jack tried to speak, but Ianto just went on. “I wanted to give you room to breathe for a while if you needed it. I won’t say that what happened out there” he gestured vaguely and Jack supposed that he meant the palace, “was some form of altruism, because it wasn’t. It really bloody _wasn’t_. But, Jack,” his voice wavered and his eyes were shining on the faint light from the incessantly burning candle on the nightstand. “Even though you didn’t know it at the time, you’ve spend more time with me than with the human Ianto. Just as we grew closer, I was coping with the fact that most of the people I’ve thought I’ve known were just a cover story made up by my parents and little else. You were one of the few people that turned out to be real and... Now that we’re here and when you know that nothing can actually kill me, I thought you might need to put this right in your mind.”

 

On a second thought, maybe he had to get Ianto drunk more often. He was brutally honest, but at least he spilled everything out. “You don’t scare me, Ianto. Not with what you are; you scare me on daily basis ever since I’ve known you for millions other reasons – because I’m afraid you’ll get yourself killed, because I’m afraid of the effect it would have – it already did have – on me if you do, and so many things you can’t even think of because your mind just doesn’t work like that. But I will never, ever be scared of you, do you understand that?” Ianto nodded, averting his eyes. “I don’t want you to give me space to breathe. And you were right back there, I am a hypocrite for not wanting to put up with what I made you put up with before. You have every right to do whatever you want with whoever you want. It’s just– you seem so comfortable with both River and the Doctor. And a Time Lord has once said to me that he thought my whole existence felt generally wrong to him, so... how could I be sure that it doesn’t feel the same way for you?”

 

“Are you kidding?” Ianto asked immediately, looking at Jack as if he had lost his mind. “You? Wrong?” Ianto gave a small laugh of disbelief and buried his head in the Captain’s shoulder so Jack could feel his words rather than actually hear them. “Jack, I can feel the Universe; see it and feel it every waking minute of the day. And it’s amazing, but it also hurts. Because it’s so much. And it goes so fast. I can see everything that has ever happened or is happening, could or will happen, and sometimes they’re all the same thing and on some days, it feels like I could go insane just by _thinking_.” He looked up and touched Jack’s face; the cold delicate fingers stroking his cheek gently. Jack closed his eyes under the caress as Ianto went on. “But when I touch you, it’s like everything stops. The whole Universe goes quiet and I can finally hear myself; can hear _you._ It’s not wrong, it’s amazing.” Ianto’s eyes were clearer now and he seemed to be sobering up, but he went back to pressing small, haphazard kisses over Jack’s face and for some reason, it felt like an afterthought to what he’d previously said.

 

Jack didn’t want to break the silence, but he couldn’t help himself. He just had to know. “Then why didn’t you say so?”

 

“I told you. Because I was afraid.” There was a moment in which Ianto apparently weighed his words in his mouth and picked them up carefully. “In the House of the Death, you said that you loved me, but I couldn’t be sure if it still stands. Jack, you don’t even know my name!”

 

“Do you know mine?” Jack shot back immediately and Ianto raised his eyebrows.

 

“No?” He replied, more of a question than a statement.

 

“And does it matter?” He didn’t give his lover the chance to speak. “Does it stop _you_ from loving _me_?” It wasn’t a rhetorical question this time and he honestly needed an answer, so he let Ianto think it through.

 

“Of course not. You’ve told me a name and if that’s who you believe yourself to be, then that’s enough.” Jack stared at him and Ianto’s lips suddenly opened into a small smile. “Oh.”

 

“Oh,” Jack echoed in agreement, feeling himself responding to the smile. “That’s pretty much enough for me too.”


	16. Day Sixteen: In a Different Clothing Style

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just like only Jack got the animal ears several chapters ago, now it’s only Ianto that gets the different clothes. I’m not sure how I feel about this chapter, but the prompt was there and that was what came to mind. I hope you like it.  
> Very important reference: The planet is indeed a thing in one of the books – the Mystery of the Haunted Cottage, it’s with Ten and Martha – and it really picks up the first thing a person had read when they step on it. In that case, it was Martha and the Doctor told her that had it been him, they wouldn’t be in a human children’s book but in a Gallifreyan fairytale, so this is where the idea came from.

“I’m only dropping you off here,” the Doctor said and then added for the hundredth time, “Try not to blow anything up, eh?” He didn’t say anything about guns and Jack wasn’t sure if it was because he thought they had stopped taking them around or because he knew that they couldn’t discouraged from doing it. “I promised Amy and Rory to take them out for their anniversary, so I better go. Don’t get yourselves in trouble. I’ll come to pick you up in five hours, so try not to get lost.” And with that, the Doctor practically pushed them out through the wooden doors. “Have fun.”

 

As the TARDIS added out of existence, Jack heard Ianto gasp and finally took in his surroundings.

 

The sky was red, bordering on bright orange on the horizon, and they were standing on a wide road. There were mountains in the distance and a city nearby – all its buildings protected by a glass sphere – and the trees in the valley they were currently in  as low-numbered as said trees were  had silver leaves that reflected the light of the two large suns spectacularly.

 

Ianto had frozen on his feet and seemed unable to utter a word. His eyes were wide with wonder and, considering he had the biggest eyes Jack had ever seen on anyone, it was rather impressive. And happened rarely. Ianto couldn’t be surprised easily.

 

“Do you know where we are?” Jack asked as he kept looking around himself The Doctor had went with the randomiser – just as they’d asked him to – when choosing a planet for them to visit and therefore, they could be quite literally anywhere. “Have you been here before?”

 

Ianto remained silent for a moment more before whispering, “Yes. Yes, you could say that.” He turned around to face his lover and despite the red light Jack could see he was even paler than usual. “Jack, this is Gallifrey.”

 

**o.O.o**

They had almost reached the city when Ianto’s phone picked up their coordinates. He’d made so many modifications on it and had added so many parts that it didn’t even look like a phone any longer, but it could do basically anything.

 

“So it’s not Gallifrey after all, look.” Ianto showed him the readings. “We’re half a Universe away.”

 

There was disappointment in his voice and Jack couldn’t blame him for it even though he himself silently didn’t want them to end up in a Time Lock. He’d had less-than-pleasant experiences with that before and didn’t want it repeated. Especially not in the middle of the Time War. “So it’s a copy, then.”

 

“It must be,” Ianto agreed. “But who would want to copy Gallifrey? What for? Wait a minute, we’ve got to find clothes,” Ianto continued and pointed at something that looked like a clothes store. “Whatever time period we are in, the clothes are basically the same; Time Lords were never ones for fashion and we’ve got to look like natives. Visitors were never too welcome in the Citadel.”

 

“Seems visitors were never too welcome on Gallifrey in general,” Jack muttered and Ianto laughed heartily as he led them into the store.

 

“Right after the war started, I was leading one of the Army’s squads that had to go to other planets and discuss their desire – or lack thereof – to get involved in the conflict. I can say I’ve damaged my uniform; a quick scan should be enough to prove it and everyone, no matter where they lived or worked, was told to keep surplus of anything – food, water, clothes, money – those were given by the government, though – in case the Army needed something in moment of crisis.”

 

Ianto looked so comfortable, so at home, that it brought a smile to Jack’s face as well. He knew that this was just a copy of Ianto’s actual home world, but it was still something, he thought as Ianto  discussed his situation with the store keeper and got his scan.

 

“Who would guess?” Ianto asked as the man started looking for a uniform. “We’re working undercover again.”

 

Jack’s smile widened and he nodded before his eyes were drawn by the clothes that were suddenly handed to Ianto. “Why were Time Lords so obsessed with red?” He wondered out loud, then smiled sheepishly when the man – still looking for the other parts of Ianto’s uniform – threw him a sharp look. “No, I won’t need an armour,” Ianto said hastily. “We’re hoping for a peaceful greeting.”

 

“Good luck with that.” The store keeper’s laugh was bitter but his voice was kind. “Everyone in the Citadel’s on edge.”

 

“Why?” Jack asked, frowning. “What’s happened?”

 

“Oh, nothing yet.” The man said, then abruptly disappeared behind the curtain on the back of the room.

 

“There’s something... off  here,” Ianto said as he put on his new clothes. “I’m not sure what, but there’s something out of place.”

 

“Maybe we’ve arrived in the war?” Jack suggested. “If it’s all copied, maybe they’ve got the war too.”

 

Ianto shook his head. “That’s just the thing. It’s not a perfect copy. And plus, if we were in the war, you’d recognise it. Te shield was broken, damaged Dalek ships scattered everywhere, everything was burning... no. There’s something else here.

 

“Why don’t we go find out, then?” Jack asked. They’ve supposedly come here for a short holiday but hey, even back in Torchwood, they’ve never had much luck with dates that ended with a peaceful dinner at home. “The Citadel... also known as the Capitol, right? Did you live there?” Ianto nodded. “Well, then there must be something for us to learn.”

 

**o.O.o**

“What do you mean, you can’t let us in?” Ianto was getting more and more agitated by the guard’s lack of cooperativeness, but Jack tried not to get involved. He was passing as the ambassador of his own planet – since he thought the guards might recognise the accent – and therefore didn’t have a say in what was currently happening.

 

He’d never seen Ianto like that before. In his uniform, he seemed even taller than usual, suddenly authoritative and completely in his element. Jack couldn’t read the label on the front of his jacket since it was Gallifreyan and the TARDIS wouldn’t translate it, but Ianto had told him that it meant ‘Junior Commander’ and that, while it wasn’t that important of a position, it was still better than any passer-by trying to enter the city, especially if the defences had been heightened.

 

“I’m sorry, Sir.” He did look like he was sorry, if the way he eyed them both apologetically could be anything to go by. “But the city is closed.”

 

“What for?” Ianto snapped. “Look, it’s important. We’ve got to go in. This here is the ambassador of Boeshane Peninsula and we can’t keep him waiting just because someone in the Council–”

 

“What is Boeshane Peninsula?” The man frowned and suddenly, the world around them looked somehow... _sharper_.

 

“It’s a colony world,” Ianto said, apparently taken aback by the question. “Six thousand light years away from here.”

 

The man shook his head. “Sir, but you must be wrong. There’s nothing else here.”

 

“What do you mean, nothing else?” Jack asked before he could stop himself.

 

“Nothing else except for Gallifrey. It’s all there is.”

 

Ianto rolled his eyes and looked at Jack in the way he usually did when someone’s stupidity was just too hopeless to be addressed. “Can I talk to someone else?” He asked. “Someone from the Council?”

 

“Sorry, Sir, but I can’t–”

 

“Look,” Ianto interrupted. “I know you’re just doing your job, but this is important. What’s your name?”

 

The guard was now staring at him as if he had completely lost his mind. “I don’t have one, Sir.”

 

**o.O.o**

Jack and Ianto were sitting nearby a lake in the fields that surrounded the city, and had been going through theory after theory for the last hour or so.

 

“Okay, so what do we have until now? Apparently Gallifrey is – or will be – under attack, but nobody talks about what will or is happening, they think that nothing else but here exists and half of them don’t even have names. If you would make a copy of a planet, why would you do such a poor job of it? It feels...”

 

“Unfinished,” Jack supplied and Ianto nodded. “Exactly. So it’s either a work in progress or... or I don’t know. “

 

“Don’t you remember anything like this?” the Captain asked. “From, I don’t know, history books, fairytales–”

 

“Fairytales!” Ianto exclaimed. “That’s it! We’re in a fairytale! The Doctor told me about this place once. This planet is like an empty slot and when someone visits, it digs into their mind and remakes their first memory of reading a book. I was the first to come out of the TARDIS, so it picked up the first thing I’ve ever read.” Ianto closed his eyes, his enthusiasm suddenly deflating. “It was the story of the Black Sun War.”

 

“The what?”

 

“You were right. Gallifrey – this Gallifrey here, anyway – is at war, or will be very soon. The first Time War.” He gulped audibly and looked back to the city. “The war against the Order of the Black Sun. They tried to stop Omega and Rassilon – supposedly the ones who established our society – from finding the source of time travel.”

 

“What happened?” Jack had known that there were several Time Wars in Gallifrey’s history and yet, he knew next to nothing about the earlier ones.

 

“They didn’t succeed – apparently – but still did quite some damage and–” Ianto looked him straight in the eye. “And I can’t do anything. That’s why we can’t move around much or enter the city – we’re not the heroes of this story. I can’t watch while it’s destroyed again if I can’t do anything, Jack.”

 

“So we’re calling the Doctor?” Jack asked and Ianto pulled out his phone again and sighed in resignation before nodding. “We’re calling the Doctor.”

 

Ianto seemed mostly angry with himself and Jack wanted to tell him that he really couldn’t do anything, but he didn’t. Not even when the TARDIS came to pick them up and Ianto walked in, ignoring the Doctor’s questions and going straight to the library where Jack found him several minutes later, after he had explained to the older Time Lord what had happened.

 

Ianto wasn’t reading; he was just sitting on the floor with his back against a shelf and staring at nothing, and Jack knew from experience that this was never a good sign. Neither was Ianto in the library, really; usually he read either in the control room or in his bed, but the library was a safe place for his hardest moments.

 

He sat next to Ianto without saying anything. His lover just leaned his head against the Captain’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Jack wrapped an arm around him and did the same; it had been a rather exhausting day and he wasn’t sure he had the energy to move back to their bedroom. He pressed Ianto closer to himself and felt the Time Lord sort of snuggle – not that Ianto would ever use that word to describe it – into his side and no one said anything for the rest of the night.


	17. Day Seventeen: Genderswapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry for any typos and any imperfections in general; these last few days were hell in school so some of the chapters might not be quite as well done as others. I finished school today, though, so I hope everything gets back on track from tomorrow.  
> Also, since today’s prompt is ‘genderswapped’, I did what I could with it and therefore this chapter is mostly the comic relief of the whole story. Enjoy it while you can because, looking at the prompts, there’ll be another Big Thing coming up.

“Are you sure that’s the right one?” Jack asked, standing on his tip toes behind Ianto, who just shrugged. “Not really. But I don’t want to ask the Doctor because he’ll kill us for screwing it up in the first place. Hold this.”

 

They really hadn’t meant and harm. It was nobody’s fault that the TARDIS’s storage room – one of many of them, anyway – was next to their room. They’d been going though it out of sheer curiosity and had ended up finding the machine they were currently trying to get back to its original state. It had already been pretty beaten up when they’d seen it, but Jack dropping it and Ianto failing to catch it on its way down had resulted in it being broken.

 

Jack held it as Ianto tried to reconnect the wires. “I’m pretty sure that the purple one isn’t supposed to go there,” the Captain commented warily as the small machine started heating up. Ianto snorted. “So am I, but it’s not like the Doctor’ll ever use it. That place is full of junk. He won’t even notice.”

 

“Fair point,” Jack conceded, then switched hands when the temperature kept rising. “Ianto, if this thing explodes on me–”

 

“It won’t,” Ianto muttered, biting his tongue in concentration. “Just give me a second here– bloody hell!”

 

“I told you. Hot,” Jack snapped, but his expression softened when he saw the burns on Ianto’s fingers. Of course his reaction would be worse, the Captain thought. His body temperature was nearly twenty degrees lower than a human’s. “You all right?”

 

“Fine.” Ianto took the pair of pliers he’d been using before and tentatively leaned closer to the machine, neatly cutting off the brown wire. The heat became unbearable; Jack dropped the machine with a cry of pain and the last thing he saw before the vast room was filled with smoke was Ianto kicking it as far away from them as possible as it exploded.

 

Jack’s eyes watered and he tried to blink the fog away. His whole body was aching and he felt decidedly _weird_. “Ianto?” His voice sounded unfamiliar too and he tried to clean his throat, but it didn’t improve things very much. “Ianto, are you okay?”

 

“Think so.” Ianto’s voice was similar to his and Jack wondered what the gas had been. Helium, perhaps? “What about you?”

 

“I’m–” Jack’s voice died when Ianto came into view. He – if it was Ianto at all and if Jack wasn’t hallucinating – approached the Captain, unsure, which gave Jack the time to pull himself together.

 

Staring back at him – with the same expression of hesitant curiosity as his own – was a woman. Significantly shorter than Ianto had been as a man *which was rather alarming, because that meant that Jack had shrunk in size as well, considering that they were similar height again) but with relatively the same features – big forehead, wide, bright blue eyes and extremely pale skin. His hair was falling in big dark curls just under his shoulders and he was practically swimming in his clothes. The hand that reached to touch Jack’s face tentatively was smaller but with the same long, delicate fingers.

 

“Jack,” the same strange voice came out of Ianto’s (now even fuller than usual) lips. “I think I might have some news for you.”

 

“Likewise,” Jack replied, running a hand through Ianto’s silky hair. “That bad?”

 

“No,” Ianto said hastily and gulped. “You’re very pretty.”

 

Jack chuckled quietly. “So are you. What do we do?”

 

“Wardrobe,” Ianto said decisively. “Those clothes are falling off of me.”

 

**o.O.o**

Ianto had the unfair advantage of being turned into a woman once, so he had better experience of what he was supposed to do with female clothes and therefore had finished dressing first. His clothes now consisted of a white dress shirt that was purposefully a few sizes too big so he could make it flare out of the black pencil skirt he’d chosen and accentuate his tiny waist, and black pumps. He was sitting on an armchair near the mirror Jack was currently examining himself in and occasionally made unhelpful remarks about the clothes the Captain wanted to try.

 

Jack was rather pleased with the body he’d ended up with. His complexion and eyes were the same, even if the proportions of his figure were very different and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what he had to do with his hands, and his hair was still short – somewhat. It reached his neckline and its ends pointed in several different directions, but he liked it. Looking at Ianto in the reflection he realised that neither of them had changed all that much. Jack had kept the ‘ruffled-up’ appearance and Ianto looked like a porcelain doll in a business meeting.

 

“Try jeans,” the man in question called from behind him. “Low-waisted, dark blue, skintight. And... a red plaid shirt.”

 

“No way.” Jack was ready to compromise, considering his own clothes didn’t fit all that well right now, but this was too much.

 

Ianto jumped up from his armchair and neared Jack with a surreal amount of balance considering the length of his heels. “Trust me,” he said with a small smile, leaning over Jack’s shoulders and picking up from the rail in front of them the clothes he’d suggested.

 

“This is the biggest wardrobe in existence, Ianto. I’m sure we can find something else.”

 

“No offense intended, Jack, but you don’t exactly have it in you when it comes to clothes.”

 

“You can talk!” Jack protested as he grudgingly left his old shirt on the floor and started putting on the new one. “Your clothes are basically the same save for the skirt!” He ditched the shirt Ianto had given him and found a pale blue one, just for a dash of normality, and his own braces. The side effect from them once he put them on was that they made certain bits of him stand out rather nicely. Speaking of which...  “Oh,” Jack said, his fingers frozen over his own chest. “I think we might have forgotten something,”

 

Ianto frowned. “What exactly?”

 

“Do me a favour and look down.”

 

Ianto’s face was the epitome of suffering.

**o.O.o**

“We need help,” Jack said once they were dressed again. “And the Doctor is out.”

 

“What about Amy and Rory?”

 

“That’s who the Doctor’s out with.” They had only met the Doctor’s current companions about a week ago when he’d picked them up after several months of living on Earth. They were on and off all the time, apparently, and one could never predict when they’d appear again.

 

“Maybe we can fix it ourselves,” Ianto offered and, at Jack’s sceptical scoff, continued, “I know that it didn’t go very well, but we could try again and maybe it’ll reverse the process. River once gave me this thingy–”

 

“River!” Jack interrupted. “We could call River!”

 

“She’ll laugh so hard she’ll break a rib,” Ianto said darkly. “But yes, that’s probably our only chance.” He took his phone from where he’d left it next to him and started fiddling with it. Jack was starting to think that this was his version of the sonic screwdriver. “What are you doing?”

 

“Texting,” Ianto said. “I’ll tell her what’s happened. When she replies, we’ll be able to trace the coordinates. The Doctor started teaching me to fly the TARDIS but I still can’t do everything properly.”

 

“Neither can he,” Jack threw in just as Ianto turned on his heels, phone still in hand. “You found her?”

 

“I found her.”

 

Five minutes later, they were both standing in the control room and Jack smiled at the way Ianto bit his lip while he fiddled about with the all the switches and buttons. “You’re getting better at this.”

 

“I am,” Ianto nodded as he pulled one last lever and the TARDIS dematerialised. Jack briefly hoped that the Doctor wouldn’t want to get back on his ship any time soon, because he’d be in for a surprise and he wasn’t sure that Ianto could get them back the same instant they’ve left.

 

“You know,” he said, leaning in to steal a kiss from his lover. “I’m starting to think that this isn’t actually all that bad.”

 

Ianto smiled down at him – the heels, as opposed to Jack’s boots, were making their height difference bigger than it had ever been – and brought him closer for a proper one. Everything felt different under Jack’s fingers; there was soft skin and sudden curves and concaves where he’d been used to hard, angular planes, and hair that slid like satin in his hands instead of the hard, gelled spikes of Ianto’s usual short one. “Even when you put us into all sorts of messes,” Jack mumbled into his mouth, “They’re usually pleasurable ones.”

 

Ianto pulled away. “What do you mean, _I_ put us into this mess? You dropped it!”

 

“Yes, but you cut that wire.”

 

“And then you dropped it _again_!”

 

“You can’t blame me for everything!” Jack couldn’t believe this. Actually, on second thought, he could. Ianto could be like that.

 

“Oh, so it’s all my fault?”

 

“Yes, it is! I don’t think...” Jack’s voice died when he heard the door opening and they both turned around to see River staring at them and laughing so hard that tears were coming out of her eyes.

 

“I told you,” Ianto muttered as he tried to look as dignified as possible. “You really shouldn’t find this amusing, you know.”

 

“This is so precious. I thought you were joking.” River approached them and looked them over. She was holding a gun in one hand and there were a few holes on her dress and when Jack looked at the monitor that showed the outside world, he saw that it was anything but a prison. “Seriously, I didn’t know that even you two could be capable of that. Ianto.”  She nodded as she gave him a small kiss on the cheek and turned to the Captain. “Jack. I like what you’ve done with the hair,” River threw in as she examined them.

 

“It wasn’t me,” he said. He’d seen River several more times after the ball on Arion and it was easier to accept now that the kiss was a way of greeting Ianto and that it meant nothing more. She was also – apparently – married to the Doctor, which made things a lot easier. “It was this thing.” He pointed to the machine which they had taken out of the storage room. It was black now, but at least it was still in one piece, and it still emitted small puffs of smoke. “Any idea what it might be?”

 

“Yeah, I think.” She carefully picked it up. “But it’s very badly damaged, it could take days.”

 

“ _Days_? “ Ianto seemed terrified, then hopeful. “We’ll help, of course, but... Could you perhaps, you know, give us a few advices in the mean time?”

 

“Yes,” Jack put in half-heartedly. He really, _really_ didn’t want to have to ask for help. “Because we’ve got little to none experience on... well, _this_ , so...” He shrugged. “A few pointers, maybe?”

 

River was trying really hard not to laugh again and, while he appreciated the effort, the Captain was still peeved. “Sure.”

 

“Great!” Ianto exclaimed as if he had barely held back, then pulled on a lock of his hair. “How do I brush this? It looks like it’ll be a nightmare to take care of.”

 

Jack raised a hand. “I have a question about eyebrows,” he said, trying to sound as authoritative as possible. “They just look... wrong on this face.”

 

River gave a small chuckle, then started up the TARDIS again. “Worry not. Just let me get us back where you’ve been before. Him indoors tends to freak out if she’s not parked where he’d left her.”

 

**o.O.o**

“If you keep screwing your eyes shut, I won’t be able to do anything!”

 

“It _hurts_!”

 

“Of course it bloody hurts, now stop _moving_!”  


Twenty minutes later Ianto’s hair was still in its perfect state, now with River’s hairspray added and an interesting smell to accompany it, and Jack was sitting in one of the chairs near the console while River kept trying to peel off his first layer of skin – or, as she insisted on calling it, plucking his eyebrows. He already kind of regretted asking for it at all.

 

She seemed deeply amused by his and Ianto’s cluelessness and even their constant – and probably obvious – questions that they had while they prepared for several long days in bodies that weren’t exactly they own didn’t seem to ruin her mood.

 

“River?” Ianto’s voice was coming from somewhere on his right. “Are you sure that this’ll hold? The hair is still all... soft.”

 

There was a deep sigh. “You know, everyone of my professors said you were smart and not just a pretty face.”

 

“Oi!” Jack couldn’t see Ianto’s expression but was pretty sure that he was scandalised just by that one syllable.

 

“Of course it’s soft, that’s why it’s hairspray and not gel. Plus, it’s made in the 42th century, one of the biggest names on the market. That’s what I use for my hair, anyway...”

 

Just then, the door creaked open and Jack carefully directed his gaze to the entrance without moving too much as River continued her work.

 

The Doctor was standing by the door, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide and unsure. Jack could clearly imagine what he was seeing right now – he was pretty sure that the man wouldn’t recognise either of them – and in that case, the completely lost look he had was more than understandable.

 

River beamed at him. “Hello, sweetie!”

 

After a moment or two, the Time Lord seemed to shake the shock off. “Yes! Hello! That is... you know, I’ll just go get...” He turned around abruptly and Jack could hear him shouting at someone in the distance, “Ponds! Your daughter is having a pyjama party in my TARDIS!”


	18. Day Eighteen: During Their Morning Rituals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Ianto is quoting at some point in relation to Jack’s visions is ‘The Well’, which is an old Irish song; I’m personally introduced to it through Omnia’s cover on it and it’s basically about a girl and a man that tells her what her future will be.

When Jack woke up several days and a fixed machine later, he was immensely grateful to realise that they had went back to their usual appearances overnight. As much as he’d liked Ianto – and himself – as a woman, there were just things he didn’t want to get used to.

 

Ianto was still asleep, his head buried in the pillow and his hair sticking up at odd angles, only half of his body covered by the duvet. Jack smiled fondly at the sight – he’d missed it greatly – and then dragged himself into the bathroom, but not before glancing over his shoulder once again, just to appreciate the way Ianto’s skin was glowing on the candle light. Like he’d told Jack so long ago, he didn’t like complete darkness and it wasn’t like the TARDIS had windows, so it was always there without anyone actually lighting it up. Jack supposed that it was the TARDIS’s own doing because Ianto didn’t seem to take care of it, either.

 

There was something almost surreal in that glow. Ianto’s whole skin was covered by it and Jack’s mind suddenly jumped to an image he had never seen before and that was yet oddly familiar – Ianto next to him as the Captain was lying on the ground, subtle golden shimmer crawling up his lover’s skin and intensifying by the second.

 

Jack held onto it, mostly because it felt strangely like a memory. It had to be his head playing tricks on him, surely – he knew what that shimmer could mean and he knew that Ianto had never regenerated, but there was still something that hit too close to home to be just a figment of his imagination.

 

He heard a small gasp coming from the bedroom and immediately knew that Ianto was awake. That was how he usually woke up and Jack could never be sure if it was because he’d had a nightmare or because the whole deal of waking up startled him, but he did it often and seconds later Ianto walked into the bathroom, rubbing the sleep off his eyes with one hand and stretching with the other as he yawned.

 

“Good morning,” Jack said after another cold splash of water to his face.

 

“Morning,” Ianto mumbled with a small smile and leaned in for a kiss. It was sloppy and thorough and Jack gave himself to it for about a minute before pulling away. The still-half-asleep look in Ianto’s eyes immediately sharpened. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

 

“What regeneration are you on?” Jack asked before he could stop himself and Ianto frowned.

 

“I’ve already told you that. I’ve never regenerated. This is my first body.” When Jack didn’t say anything, Ianto kept going. “What brought this on?”

 

“Nothing, really.” Jack tried to be as casual as possible and knew that he was failing miserably. “It’s just that I’ve got some sort of– I don’t know. If it’s not happened yet, then it must be some sort of visions, but–”

 

“If you be the man of noble fame, you’ll tell to me what will happen to me,” Ianto hummed under his breath as he picked up his toothbrush. Jack ignored him.

 

“I’m just not sure what is happening, that’s all,” he continued. “It’s just that... Like a kind of remember it except it’s not really there. And it looks like you’re regenerating.”

 

Whatever humour Ianto’s eyes had held until then now vanished. “Regenerating?”

 

Jack nodded. “It looked like that. I’ve seen the Doctor regenerate once – well, sort of – and that was what it looked like. I think I...” Jack tried to force the almost-memory back into existence. “I was lying down and you were standing over me. Owen was there too and Gwen, I think. You two were talking about something, and then you came back and told me that you’re sorry.”

 

“And what did I do next?” Ianto’s voice was extremely gentle now and Jack was getting more and more certain that his imagination had nothing to do with the whole situation.

 

“You gave me– You _Retconned_ me.” It wasn’t a question now; more of an incredulous statement. Ianto nodded silently and then, at Jack’s wordless demand for information, he sighed.

 

“There was an alien we were chasing and it attacked you. It was feeding on Rift energy so its effect was basically like looking into the Vortex. It’s a powerful defence move, because it leaves you disoriented while it escapes, but... most people would shrug it off as drugs in the air or whatever other explanation that makes no sense but also helps them sleep at night, but you? You’d know what was happening. We had to Retcon you. No one’s supposed to see the future; especially the future of the people who are closely related to your own life. We had no choice.”

 

“You had no choice or _you_ had no choice?”

 

Ianto avoided Jack’s eyes. “Both, I’d say.”

 

“Oh. Nice. How much I’ve lost?”

 

As fast as he’d dropped his gaze, Ianto’s head snapped back up. “What?”

 

“It couldn’t have been just once. How many memories am I missing?”

 

“Nothing, really.” Ianto’s reply was too fast to be honest. “Just this one and... one other time, but you can’t trigger it. It doesn’t matter now, does it?” It sounded almost like a plea.

 

“Perhaps not,” Jack said – and meant it, mostly. “But... It still means that I’ll see you regenerate.”

 

“You will one day.” Ianto’s voice was quiet. “One way or another. I’m not immortal, Jack. I’m just really stubborn.”

 

Jack laughed quietly and brushed Ianto’s cheek with his thumb. “I’ve noticed. You were like that even as a human.”

 

“You helped about that,” Ianto reminded with a small smile of his own.

 

“And I’ve never been more happy for making that decision,” Jack said and Ianto looked at him, not without a good amount of scepticism and disbelief. “Seriously, Ianto, after all this time? Do you think I regret not killing you that day?”

 

“Of course I don’t think _that_ ,” Ianto said with a scoff. “I was just thinking and you don’t need to worry. Regeneration won’t make any difference.”

 

Jack raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

 

“My parents believed that if you let your body change with regeneration, then your mind will change too and you’ll lose a part of yourself. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to risk that.”

 

“No,” Jack agreed. “Neither would I.”

 

It wasn’t perfect. But it was everything.


	19. Day Nineteen: Spooning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Several more fillers until the next Big Thing, so you’ll have to put up with the prompts until then.

Water was dripping onto their heads and Jack could feel it creeping down his neck and making him even colder than he already was since he was pressed against the stone wall.

 

“Update from hell, day three.” Ianto’s voice echoed in the corridor outside even though he was in the corner of the same cell that Jack was inhabiting. “The grass is not greener on the other side.”

 

Jack closed his eyes and tried to count to ten. Even when they’d still been in Torchwood, he’d been the only one who didn’t get agitated by Ianto’s jokes at the most inappropriate times, but he was pushing his luck today. Well, not strictly today – they _had_ been here for three days.

 

 "You know, if it weren't for your James Bond complex, we wouldn't be here right now," Jack said abruptly. “I told you that this was a bad idea! Cardiff in the 19th century? Why would you want anything like that? Why would you decide that it’s the perfect place for undercover missions and Monte Carlo style stuff? It smells, it’s dirty and nothing ever happens.”

 

“We got captured. _Something_ happened. It’s not my fault that your Vortex Manipulator broke. _Again_.”

 

Jack sighed. “About time we accepted it. We can’t travel on our own, so unless you want to grow your own TARDIS, we’ll have to keep closer to the Doctor, whether we like his choice of destinations or not.”

 

 Ianto apparently wanted to say something about that but just then, the door of the basement opened and footsteps could be heard - brisk and confident as they approached their cell.

 

"Still quiet, I see," Alice Guppy smiled, looking down at them. "Hopefully not for long. I've brought you food. Not poisoned," she added when all she got in response were two matching glares. "We wouldn't want to starve you."

 

Only silence answered yet again and Jack couldn't help but think that they were probably a rather sorry sight right now. Their clothes were soaking wet and when he looked at Ianto, what he saw suddenly reminded him of his lover the day they’d found Lisa in the basement – broken, angry and with several bloody scratches on his face, absolutely unrecognisable from the man they had known until then. Yes, there had been several major changes since that moment and yet the point of view he had now – sitting on the stone bench inside the cell of the Torchwood basement – was slightly disorienting.

 

They’d got caught when they had tried teleporting with Jack’s Vortex Manipulator – which they’d been working on before that – and had unfortunately ended up in front of Alice and Emily just as they had left the Torchwood base. Needless to say, things had went downhill since then and, considering that this was several years before they actually met Jack, they only had yet to become worse.

 

Alice slid in the tray of food – two soups and two glasses of water – into the cell and then left with the unsaid promise to come back later. Ianto sighed mournfully.

 

“I thought I might like her, you know,” he said and Jack’s head snapped up.

 

“Sorry?”

 

“Alice. From what I’ve read about her, I thought she was somewhat like me. And the worst thing?” He looked up to face the Captain. “I was right.”

 

Jack shook his head. “You’re nothing like her.”

 

“She’s keeping aliens in a cell. Aliens whose language she doesn’t understand – or so she thinks, since we won’t speak in front of her – and also aliens who had done her no personal harm, and she’s keeping them – us – here and will probably later come back with even more questions and also some torture devices. What I’ve seen of her until now was cruel jokes on our behalf and her snogging Emily up against the next cell’s door. How is she any different?”

 

“You’re always doing what’s right,” Jack shot back immediately and then almost regretted it, because Ianto’s shoulders fell even more.

 

“I’m doing what I _think_ is right. And the same goes to her.”

 

“Is this going anywhere?” Jack asked suspiciously. Ianto wasn’t one to talk much and when he did, there was surely something else – something just beneath the surface – that actually bothered him. More often than not, Jack managed to find what it was, but it usually took some time to catch up.

 

“Not really,” Ianto sighed, then laughed quietly. “It’s a pity that Americans don’t understand irony, you know. I was just thinking– Can you hear that?”

 

Jack was ready to scold him for changing the topic – and for still considering him American, but there was indeed something happening around them. Ianto stood up and looked around himself, then smiled.

 

“He’s coming to take us,” he said as a wind that hadn’t been there a moment ago appeared and then stopped again. “But he can’t park in the cell; it’s too small.”

 

Jack followed Ianto’s example and pressed himself against the door, a grin slowly curling his lips when he saw the TARDIS materialising.

 

“The TARDIS in Torchwood Three,” Ianto whispered with something between pride and gloating – he was probably glad to have his Torchwood branch have the TARDIS at least once and still felt he had every right to run away right under their noses. “Ha!”

 

The Doctor came out and unlocked the door as fast as he could, the sonic screwdriver still beeping away as he hurriedly muttered that he’d never let them out alone again.

 

**o.O.o**

Hours later, when they had showered and changed into dry clothes, Jack and Ianto were back in their room and Jack could feel his lover’s cold body pressing against his back under the covers that kept him at least somewhat warm.

 

“Jack?” The hesitant voice behind him drew his attention just as he started falling asleep; the accent thicker with the tiredness Ianto was experiencing as well.

 

“Mm?”

 

“Still mad at me?”

 

Without turning around, Jack smiled. “You know what? Not really. I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

 

“’M glad to hear it.”

 

“Still mad that I prefer us stuck with the Doctor?”

 

He felt Ianto shake his head as he buried his nose in the Captain’s hair. “Nah. You’re right; we’re better this way. And I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

 

Jack laughed softly at the echo of his own words from so long ago. Ianto had always had an exceptional memory and he could restore just about anything he’d ever seen or heard.

 

“No,” he agreed. “Not for the world.”


	20. Day Twenty: In Battle, Side-by-Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger. It’s just that the next chapter is ‘Injured’ and I think I can fit a two-parter here just fine, so I’ll try to upload as fast as I can.

“Ianto, please.”

 

“No, Jack.”

 

“At least hear me out!”  Jack knew that he was shouting and remembered what his father had told him one day – the words so distant now that there were lost in time – “Never shout if you want to be heard. It shows that you’re powerless.” And that was how he felt right now – powerless. More than that, he felt _helpless._

Ianto turned on his heels to look at him and his eyes were filled with the grim determination that often scared the Captain so much. “I heard you out. You and the Doctor, _and_ River and also a few strangers that decided to help. But no one seems to understand – you _can’t_. I created this. It’ responds to no one but me. No one can’t help me.”

 

Jack stared at the machine in the middle of the room. It was round, approximately the size of a beach ball, made from some metal Jack hadn’t seen before and that looked somewhere between gold and copper, and it was completely covered in buttons of all sizes and colours and a small screen.

 

“I started working on it the first days after I was promoted and I’ve been thinking about it since the war started,” Ianto said quietly as he lowered himself next to it. “The Senior Commander gave me the freedom to do anything I wanted to; anything that could stop the Daleks, but he told me to not let anybody else but me have power over it – God knows what would happen if the Daleks themselves had taken it.”

 

“And what is it, exactly?” Jack asked. As soon as they’d stumbled upon the sphere – they were on this planet at all because the TARDIS had caught a distress signal – Ianto had visibly paled and told everyone – civilians, the police (or what passed for it under the control of the Daleks) and even his friends – to get out as soon as they could because it could explode.

 

“When activated, it releases a gas that can get past the Dalekanium and to the Daleks themselves. It doesn’t affect anyone but them, so it’s basically a chemical weapon, only temporal. It’s supposed to work on those on this planet and then, when they do a Temporal Shift – and they will, they’ll release it into the Vortex. They travel in the matter of seconds, but it doesn’t matter, because it’ll spread out there.”

 

“Killing every Dalek in time and space,” Jack realised with a small smile. “Ianto, that’s brilliant!”

 

“I try,” Ianto said immodestly, but then started poking the sphere again. “But that brings us to square one.”

 

“You said it would explode,” Jack said, the smile dying on his lips. “That’s why you tried to chase everyone away.”

 

Ianto nodded. “Precisely. This planet has a higher density of oxygen than Gallifrey and when it releases the gas, the reaction will most likely be an explosion.”

 

“Well, press it and run, then.”

 

Ianto shook his head. “The moment I activate it, it’ll spread the gas into the air. It was made that way so Daleks won’t have the time to escape before it reaches them.”

 

“So this was basically a suicide mission waiting to happen, is that it?” Jack’s voice was harsher than he’d wanted it to be, but he couldn’t hold back.

 

“Jack, we were desperate. What is one life if millions – billions – are to be saved?”

 

“Everything,” Jack snarled and Ianto’s eyes widened in shock. He clenched his eyes shut, then opened them again and brought Jack in for a kiss.

 

“I’m sorry,” he said softly against the Captain’s lips. “There isn’t another way. These people here? They’ve been slaves of the Daleks for centuries. I have to do this. For them and for myself, because I never, ever want to see one single Dalek again. So when you get to the first floor, run. Find the Doctor and River. Tell the Doctor what I’ve done. I’d go now and tell him myself, but everything outside is full of Daleks and plus, I don’t want him to hate me – and he will, because that’s genocide. I fully realise that.”

 

“And I don’t blame you,” Jack assured. “If I could, I’d make the same choice any day. But not like this. Please.”

 

“Jack, we already went through this. I can’t–”

 

“I saw you regenerating!”

 

“You what?”

 

“I told you the other day. That Rift alien thing – I saw you regenerating.”

 

“And you just might,” Ianto smiled. “I don’t know how the explosion will affect me, so I’m open for possibilities. But now please, do me a favour and get out. Make sure that everyone is out of the zone of impact. For me.”

 

“What if you don’t make it?” Jack could barely hear his own voice. “There’s still a chance that you won’t survive.”

 

“There’s always that chance, Jack,” Ianto said softly with another hasty kiss. “I’ve come to accept it.”

 

“ _I_ haven’t.”

 

“I’ll be fine. I already told you. I’m always fine in the end.” When Jack didn’t say anything, Ianto continued. “And plus, we’ve got to help these people. No one but me can do it; it’s based on my DNA.” There was a moment of silence. “When you get to the Doctor, signal me with his screwdriver so I know you’re far away enough. I’ll get it on my phone. And by the way, if I blow myself up–”

 

“Don’t say things like that!”

 

“– Please take out my phone. It’s won’t be destroyed, I’ve shielded it against such things. So take it. I’ve been working on that thing for months.”

 

Ianto. Ever the pedant. Even in what were perhaps the last minutes of life.

 

“Okay,” Jack said in resignation. “Okay. I’ve seen the future; nothing else could happen, right?” he let out a small, hysterical laugh and kept going, fearful to answer his own question. “I believe in you and I know you wouldn’t listen anyway, so– go on. Destroy them to the last one.”

 

“That’s what I was planning, Captain.”

 

Jack knew that there was nothing more he could do. Ianto wasn’t one to stay back when he could do something to change things, so there was no use of wasting any more time with it. He squeezed Ianto’s hand and then let it go, turning his back on him just as Ianto called out, “See you in a bit.”

 

“Don’t keep me waiting,” Jack murmured as he left the room.

 

The building was deserted – had been since Ianto had announced that there was a great possibility of the whole place exploding – and his footsteps echoed as he made his way out of the empty corridors and halls of what had once been the Parliament of this country, long before the planet had been taken over by the Daleks.

 

“Where is he?” the Doctor asked as soon as he approached them. He was pacing around restlessly, impatiently waiting for a response, but Jack could see in River’s eyes that she already knew the answer.

 

“Melodramatic git,” she snapped to no one in particular. “I hate him sometimes.”

 

“You and me both,” Jack said darkly as he joined them. He wanted to look unruffled by the whole situation and tried to make the impression that he was absolutely sure of the positive outcome, but the Doctor didn’t bother with pretences.

 

“You let him do it, didn’t you?” he asked quietly. “You allowed this?”

 

“I can’t allow or forbid him anything, Doctor.” Even to his own ears, his voice sounded defeated. “He isn’t a child. I know that this is the way you look at him, but _he is not a child_.” The Doctor looked ready to retort, but jack beat him to it. “Send him a message; he needs to know we’re all out.”

 

Jack watched, holding his breath, as the sonic let out several short signals and as, seconds later, the ground under their feet started trembling. They all looked down and River voiced what the three of them understood at the same time. “The impact is bigger than he expected. The whole place is going to blow up.”

 

“Run!”

 

Jack followed them and they ran away – a bit too late, he was sure, just as he knew that the buildings around them would most likely follow suit – as the building around them seemed to get swallowed by a white hot ball of fire as the world around them exploded.


	21. Day Twenty-One: Injured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I think that this is a satisfying closure to last chapter. I tried to deal with the regeneration as well as I could, even if it does feel a bit rushed to me because I finished it in a hurry. There are two more before the next Big Chapter and I'm trying to do a bit of a build-up for it, so I'm hoping that you'll see it working.

For the first time in weeks, Jack came back to life alone.

 

Well, not absolutely so – he could see River trying to remove the remnants of the nearest building from his legs and he sat up clumsily, reaching down to help.

 

She raised her head, an irritated grimace twisting her features. “You scared the hell out of me. I thought you were dead.”

 

“I was.”

 

“No, properly dead. There are still things that could kill you for good, you know.”

 

At any other moment, Jack would have paid more attention to that out of sheer interest, since last time he knew, the Doctor had told him that he was indestructible, but there were more pressing matters right now.

 

“Your shoulder.” It was somewhere between a statement and a question, but River paid it little mind as she pulled out her communicator out of the pocket of her dress and started clocking things on it, seemingly haphazardly as Jack kept staring at the place where the olive fabric was bloodied.

 

“It’s just a flesh wound. I hope.”

 

“Where’s the Doctor?”

 

“Already inside.” Jack rose to his feet next to her and followed her gaze to the pile of cement and marble where the Parliament had been minutes ago. “Whatever’s left of it, anyway. Looking for Ianto.” River’s device started beeping urgently. “There! Life signs amongst all of this. Two of them, but quite far away from each other.” Jack peeked over her shoulder and saw the two dots on the screen. “This one would be Ianto. He’s closer to us than he is to the Doctor.”

 

Jack didn’t wait to be told twice and started making his way through the wreckage.

 

The Daleks were gone. Each and every one of them, which meant that it had worked. The people around them seemed unsure if they had to be happy or not, but Jack supposed that on the other end of the same planet – on the other end of the same _city_ – there would be celebrations  for days on end.

 

“There he is!” River was pointing somewhere east from him and Jack immediately spotted him.

 

Ianto had fallen between two large pieces of marble, his eyes closed and his face and clothes dirty. Jack scrambled through the ruins of the building to get to him just as River fell on her knees right next to him and started checking his pulse. “Speeding up,” she said to the unasked question in Jack’s eyes. “And his temperature is rising. His body kept together with the power of the regeneration, but it hasn’t started yet. We have to get him to the TARDIS.”

 

“I can walk.” Both their eyes locked on Ianto’s face as he slowly opened his eyes. “It’s– Will it be okay if I walk?”

 

“Of course,” River assured and helped him up. “It’s better if he manages on his own,” she added for Jack who was ready to protest. “He’ll need the concentration in a while if he wants to keep the same face. That’s what you said, wasn’t it?”

 

Ianto nodded minutely and then smiled at both of them. “I did it,” he said. “Can you believe it? I actually did it.”

 

“Yes,” Jack’s smile was tight and his heart was heavy. “We were there.” He was still trying to keep the spirits up, mostly for Ianto’s sake – after all, he was the one suffering – but it was hard and, as it usually happened with the Time Lord around, unnecessary.

 

“Nothing’s going to change, Jack,” he assured softly. “It’s still going to be me. I promised, didn’t I?”

 

“You did,” Jack admitted. “But you’re not immortal, Ianto. You keep forgetting that. You can’t pull that trick forever.”

 

“What would be the point of living if there’s nothing to die for?” Ianto wasn’t expecting and answer and Jack didn’t have one, so he continued. “We do need to get to the TARDIS, though. The energy from a regeneration will bring half the Universe to this planet and the people here’ve got enough trouble on their hands.” The words were getting more and more slurred and he leaned against the door of the TARDIS as they finally reached it. The Doctor was approaching them as he made his way through the fallen buildings, having spotted them already, and Jack got momentarily distracted, only to return his attention back to Ianto when he gasped. “God, this hurts like hell.”

 

“But it’s also good, isn’t it?” River asked, opening the door and pulling him in. “You can feel your wounds tying up, your body repairing itself. It’s like being absolutely new once again. Just like magic, only real.”

 

The Doctor had caught up and Jack glanced at him to find him a little taken aback by River’s words.

 

“Isn’t it like that for you?” he asked softly. The Doctor shook his head with a sad smile.

 

“Once, maybe, but not now. They’re young. River’s only had three regenerations, let alone Ianto. It’s different for them.”

 

“I think it’s starting,” Ianto said, looking down at his hands, and there it was – the glow Jack remembered seeing that night, so long ago now; the golden shimmer that his skin was letting out. Ianto smiled. “You’re right, this _is_ good.”

 

 "I told you," River said, returning the smile and looking rather smug. "Now, if you want to keep the same face, you'll have to focus on who you are. On what makes you who you are. Do you understand?" Ianto nodded hastily. "Okay then. Good luck." She squeezed his hand and Ianto returned it, "Thank you."  


Jack made to get closer to Ianto, only to try and talk to him before it started, but the Doctor yanked him back quickly as River joined the two of them. "Stand back," he said quietly and Jack could feel the tension coming from him. He wasn't sure what caused it, but the Doctor looked like he was about to go off any second if anyone touched him. "He's going to need the space."  


River stood next to the Doctor and Jack saw the Time Lord sneaking his hand into hers and holding it lightly and it was as if ressurance was pouring from her to him and for a moment, Jack longed to have the same thing instead of watching his lover as he leaned against the console, trying to hold back for the Captain's benefit.

 

"I promised, Jack," he whispered, breathing heavily with the effort of resisting the regeneration. "I'm not going to-"

 

"Ianto, now!" the Doctor put in sharply, then turned to Jack when the man glared at him. "He's stopped a regeneration once, if he keeps doing that, his body is just going to reject it as an option." The Captain was amazed to see that his eyes were glistening with something that closely resembled anger and turned back to Ianto just in time to see the light intenifying as Ianto finally surrendered to it.  


"See you in a bit," he echoed his own words from when he'd been back at the Parliament and before Jack could respond, Ianto threw his head back and the golden light engulfed them.


	22. Day Twenty-Two: Arguing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about that, but ‘arguing’ sort of requires angst. Worry not, though, as the next chapter is ‘making up afterwards’, so it’s going to get fixed as soon as possible.

As soon as the light started subsiding, Jack tentatively looked through his fingers, only to see Ianto on his knees by the console with his back to them.

 

“Oh.” His voice was quiet and yet the Captain could hear – with a great amount of relief – the same deep timbre and melodic accent. “This is... new.” He rose to his feet, still not turning around and looking at his slightly twisted reflection on the surface of the console. “Oh, this is _nice_.” He shook himself like a bird ruffling its feathers and then turned around to face them with a wide grin. “Hello.”

 

“Ianto!” Jack didn’t even bother to hide the relief in his voice as he rushed to embrace his lover, squeezing him tightly in his arms. Ianto smiled at him, apparently amused, with the face Jack had seen so many times – and most of said times it had been holding the same expression of fond exasperation. “Hell, for a moment here I thought–”

 

“I promised, Jack,” Ianto said softly, disentangling himself from the Captain’s embrace. “And I always keep my promises.”

 

“You really don’t,” Jack scoffed. “And the ‘oh this is nice’ was misleading.”

 

“I was talking about the feeling. It’s... if you could regenerate, I bet you’d do it all the time.”

 

“Yeah,” River put in. “It feels like the most amazing–”

 

“Never mind that,” the Doctor put in loudly as he saw Ianto nod enthusiastically in agreement to her words and Jack start to laugh out loud “Ianto, are you okay? It’s quite possible to feel some confusion and be generally exhausted after a– whoa!”

 

Ianto had been listening to the Doctor intently before suddenly going limp in Jack’s hands and trying to put himself together just a second later. “I’m fine,” he mumbled, but Jack could feel that he wasn’t entirely relaxed on his legs. “It’s just, my head hurts and I feel like I might...” and with that, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he blacked out.

 

“Doctor!” Jack called out, alarmed. “What’s going on?”

 

“It’s okay,” the Doctor assured, carefully sliding his palm over Ianto’s face to check his temperature. “It’s absolutely normal, but... you’d better take him to his room.

 

And that was how, ten minutes later, Jack sat by Ianto’s bed as he exhaled another breath of golden energy. It dissolved in the air above them. The Captains sighed. Ianto had been asleep for mere minutes from what the Doctor had told him could take hours, and he was getting impatient. He wanted to see Ianto awake again; to be able to talk to him, explore that new regeneration and take the time to find out what was new and what wasn’t in him as a person, considering that his body hadn’t changed a bit. Seeing him like this – unmoving and quiet – sent shivers down Jack’s spine. Even when he wasn’t doing anything in particular, Ianto was constantly moving. Damn, even in his sleep the Captain could feel him turn and toss about as he dreamt, so this was as unnatural a state for him as I could get.

 

“His body is still recovering, so he has to rest,” the Doctor said quietly as the three of them watched over him. “He’ll be completely okay; it’s just a part of the regeneration process.”

 

“It happened to me with my first regeneration,” River said to no one in particular. “I fell asleep in the middle of the street. Tasha found me.”

 

The Doctor frowned. “Who’s Tasha?”

 

“Never mind that now,” River said hastily. “What I’m trying to say is, some regenerations would do that kind of thing to you when others don’t. Time Lords usually fall asleep immediately if it was a pretty violent death, which his was. His body would have been blown up with the rest of the building if it hadn’t been for the regeneration energy holding him together.”

 

“So what do we do now?” Jack asked, tapping with his food subconsciously as Ianto sighed in his sleep. “How do we wake him up?”

 

“We don’t,” the Doctor said, avoiding the Captain’s expecting eyes. “We wait.”

 

**o.O.o**

Hours later, when the Doctor and River had went away for reasons Jack couldn’t remember, he was still sitting by Ianto’s bed. The Captain hadn’t moved a muscle in hours and yet it didn’t bother him; all he wanted was to be here when the Time Lord eventually woke up.

 

He had been so close to losing him today that his mind couldn’t take it completely. There had been no guarantee that Ianto would ever walk out of the ruins of that building, regeneration or no regeneration. A small, familiar gasp, however, brought him back from his thoughts and Jack’s eyes immediately focused on Ianto who was slowly opening his eyes.

 

“Jack?” he asked softly, blinking against the muted light in the room (the TARDIS had gone out of her way to help him). “Where’s everyone?” He sat up quickly and threw the duvet off himself. “How long have I been out of it?”

 

“Several hours, I think.” Time didn’t pass in the TARDIS as it would have outside, and Jack had somehow lost track of it. “The Doctor is taking River home, I think. You need to rest,” he hurried to add when Ianto stood up.

 

“Bollocks,” Ianto said cheerily, pulling Jack up to his feet as well. “I’m feeling _great_. Can we go out now?”

 

“Just a moment,” Jack said, his heart heavy with dread. River had suggested doing that test and Jack knew that it’d be necessary. They’d wanted to see if Ianto still had any of the fake memories as a human, so he tentatively asked, “Does the name Gwen ring a bell?”

 

“Of course.” Ianto’s voice suggested that the question was ridiculous, but when Jack kept staring at him expectantly, he kept going. “Gwen Cooper, born 16th august 1978. Joined Torchwood several months after me. Dark hair, green eyes, about this tall.” Ianto gestured vaguely somewhere about his own shoulder. “Happy?”

 

“Immensely. Now, what about Alun Jones?”

 

Ianto frowned and bit his lip and, after a moment, shook his head. “No clue. Was it someone important?”

 

“No,” Jack said through whatever was blocking his throat. It was unfair and selfish; he knew it, to hope that Ianto might have kept whatever was left from his inflicted human memories, but it was apparent that Ianto was, as River had put it in, ‘back to factory settings’. Time Lord and nothing else, with his memories on Earth starting where they had actually began – with him being recruited for Torchwood One. “Not at all. And now that we’ve cleared that up,” he started, getting a chance he’d been waiting for since Ianto had told them all that he was going to activate the chemical bomb, “How could you do something so stupid? Don’t you understand that you’ve got a limited number of lives?” He didn’t give Ianto the opportunity to respond. “Can’t you see how reckless it is to do something like that? You can’t waste your regenerations like money on the summer fair, Ianto!” The man in question’s eyes had widened and he looked shocked enough to make Jack reign in it – after all, Ianto could rarely be truly shocked. “You could have thousands of years if you’d just be careful and the next instant you go out there and waste a life that could go on for centuries when you’re _twenty-five_?”

 

“Nearly twenty-six,” Ianto tried but when the only response he got was a glare, his expression hardened as well. “You seemed to have accepted that I was going to die early, back when we were at Torchwood. What changed?”

 

“You did,” Jack said quietly, not breaking their locked gazes. “And I can’t– I can’t watch you die and throw away all that potential just because you feel like it. It’s insane. It’s _pointless_.”

 

“My life is not a clock running out in front of you.” Ianto’s voice was low and dangerous and it was Jack’s turn to be stunned. “I make my own decisions and you, Jack, don’t get to decide whether I’m going to sacrifice it or not when I think it’s worth it. _You_ don’t get to decide when and how I’m going to die because my life is still going to be the smallest part of yours. My millennium or so will be a blink of an eye compared to the millions and billions of years you’re probably going to live through. But if you think that the longer I am around you the harder it would be to accept that I’m not there later, Jack...” The Captain flinched as the words – once again – voiced his own thoughts painfully clearly, “then maybe it’d be better if you never see me again, right? Maybe it’d be _easier_ , if you’d like, to distance yourself from me right now.”

 

“Ianto, this isn’t what I meant–”

 

But even before he could finish his sentence, Ianto had walked out of the room, slamming the door in Jack’s face as his footsteps echoed down the corridor.


	23. Day Twenty-Three: Making Up Afterwards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending is a bit rubbish, I know, but the next two chapters are important ones and connected to the end of this one as well, so I had to tie it up somehow. I hope you like it, though.

Much to Jack’s surprise, Ianto wasn’t hiding in the library but had went out instead. ‘Out’ turned out to be a place he’d never seen before but that was mostly likely on Earth as Ianto was sitting on the edge of a cliff, swinging his legs, as Jack approached him.

 

“Where and when are we?” He asked anyway and Ianto turned around to face him. He looked vaguely guilty and uncomfortable as well as a bit lost – his back hunched and his whole posture making him seem smaller – but he nodded to Jack to sit next to him anyway.

 

“Venus, a bit after the birth of the Solar System,” Ianto said and narrowed his eyes at the Sun and Jack looked at it long enough to realise that it was indeed the same one – just a lot closer than it was from Earth’s point of view. “It was like that before the carbon dioxide started getting too much or it to bear.”

 

“Oh,” Jack was trying really hard to keep the conversation civil, but it wasn’t working very well; not when he had to bite his own tongue to do it and when he could feel the waves of tension coming from Ianto. “Look, about that in there–”

 

“Never mind,” Ianto said quickly, but Jack shook his head. “No, listen to me. At least once, let _me_ talk so we can get this sorted once and for all, okay?”

 

Ianto looked at him for a long moment, his expression unreadable, before nodding wordlessly.

 

“I’m trying really hard to keep up,” Jack started quietly. He wanted to place all cards on the table – finally – so they wouldn’t need to go through this again. “And it’s difficult sometimes – you die, you come back, you disappear again, you show up from the Shadow Proclamation’s Asteroid months after your own death and you’re suddenly a completely new person. All of a sudden, I have three Time Lords on my hands and they have inter-relationships even weirder than the ones we had at the Time Agency, but that was still fine. I got through that, and it’s okay. It’s all good, because we reached some kind of an agreement and I stopped feeling like the human tagging along. But... you do realise that you’re really hard work sometimes, don’t you?” Ianto looked away into the sea and Jack tapped his chin midly, turning him back to himself. “Look at me,” he whispered. “ _Really_ look at me. And tell me, do you really thing that I’d let you go? Just like that, just because I might suffer later.”

 

“I’m not worth it.” Ianto’s voice was hoarse, as if he hadn’t used it for weeks. “I’m really not worth the trouble, Jack, because you’re right. I’ve done nothing to justify the effort you’re putting into this.”

 

“Let _me_ decide that,” Jack said, his voice gentler than it had been in a long time when it came to Ianto. “You are worth the trouble, and you need to understand that, but you also need to speak to me. I can’t figure it out just like that. I can’t always know what you want or how you feel.”

 

“It’s sort of a two-way street, Jack,” Ianto reminded softly and the Captain found himself smiling.

 

“It is. And I know that I’m not the most open of people either, but I swear to you, I’m not hiding anything that’s worth mentioning. You would have hated the man I’m keeping hidden from you.”

 

“The same might be true for me.” Ianto stared at him for a long moment and Jack raised an eyebrow, requiring further explanation. “We’ve talked about this once. You probably think I don’t remember it, but I do. You miss your Ianto – the one from before the 456 – and I told you that I don’t remember most of that; the one before the House of the Dead. You don’t want _me_. As far as I know, you might hate the man I am now.”

 

“I don’t,” Jack hurried to say. “I just wish you could have an instructions manual sometimes. It’s not much fun figuring it out myself sometimes.”

 

“I know,” Ianto said quietly, twisting his body to face Jack as they sat on the edge and kiss him briefly. “I know. But everything’s happening so fast. I feel like I can’t stop even for a moment, just to check who I am and what I’ve become. I’m not really sure about anything anymore. I’ve lived with the mind of a human for at least two years. I remember Canary Wharf and Lisa and Torchwood and yet sometimes it’s like that’s never happened at all. Like I’ve been in the War and suddenly I’m here and... there are days when I wake up and I’m not even sure where I am. I look around, I look at you or at myself and I can’t remember my own name. And then this. Regeneration. I had no idea what to do and..”

 

“I get it,” the Captain said carefully, looping an arm around Ianto’s shoulders and bringing him closer. “But... you could try, couldn’t you? I know that death is still a bit of an open wound and I’m sorry for opening it again, but we could try and get through this together, couldn’t we?”

 

“We could,” Ianto conceded carefully, lacing one hand with Jack’s free one. He seemed unconvinced, though, and Jack suddenly had an idea.

 

“Tell you what,” he began. “We could get the Doctor to get us to a planet – a peaceful one, where nothing ever happens. He’s been proposing a double date for ages, so it’d be a good idea, yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” Ianto echoed and gracefully stood up, bringing Jack with him as they got back on their way to the TARDIS. “And, Jack? I’m sorry.”

 

Jack smiled encouragingly. “It’s okay. As long as we make it through this together, it’ll always be okay.”

 

Ianto returned the smile hesitantly and the Captain got the feeling that something important was happening in his head right now; some decision invisible to everyone else was being made. “Always.”

 


	24. Day Twenty-Four: On One of Their Birthdays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But I had to separate it into two chapters because otherwise it would get about five thousand words long. Been there, done that, no that much of a good idea.

“D’you reckon we should tell them we have to get going?” the Doctor asked, scratching the back of his neck with mild curiosity.

 

“Nah,” Jack said, leaning against the door of the TARDIS and crossing his legs at the ankles. “Leave them to it. They’re having fun; why spoil it?”

 

The idea of Ianto and River alone in the wardrobe made him somewhat uneasy, but Jack repressed it as he thought about their plans for today.

 

Last night, they had gone to sleep, just to rest before the big day. Considering that the so-called double date was the same day as Ianto’s birthday, they all wanted it to be special and plus, he was well aware that Ianto and River liked dressing up for any occasion they got – including a (questionably) human colony that vaguely resembled the early days of America and, even though he and the Doctor hadn’t been bothered to change their clothes, he was expecting all sorts of cowboy references and had his fingers crossed against any hats included.

 

And was, unfortunately, proven wrong seconds later as the two young Time Lords reappeared into the console room, Ianto dressed in loose jeans and a shirt that had seen better days (or was purposefully made to look like it had went through several tornados), a pair of boots and a Stetson that the Captain deeply suspected was the Doctor’s. River was wearing a skintight pair of denim shorts and the red plaid shirt that Jack had refused to wear several days back, her usual motorcycle boots up to her knees and, with a blinding smile, she took the hat off Ianto’s head and placed it on her own, spinning around for their benefit and throwing the Doctor a questioning look, apparently daring him to voice his opinion.

 

It was an undeniably attractive scene, whether jack liked to admit it or not, and it was also one more thing that the two of them shared – Ianto had delighted in the several undercover missions they’d had in Torchwood and Jack was pretty sure that Time Lord psychology couldn’t erase that in a person. Every time he’d seen River she was in different clothes, and she seemed to enjoy the roles she played, so Jack thought that it was only fair to let them have fun with it while they could. Especially since they had got it just right; Ianto’s clothes were (probably purposefully) too big on him and yet perfectly framing his long thing body, and River’s attire outlined every curve of her figure in a way that clearly showed that it had been her intent.

 

“Yowzah,” the Doctor said quietly and Jack agreed with the sentiment with heart and soul, even if his eyes were fixed on Ianto instead of her; Ianto who was currently approaching him with a small smile.

 

“Birthday and all,” he said, as if excusing himself. “Decided to try something new.”

 

“I approve wholeheartedly,” Jack assured him and he looked him up and down as Ianto snatched his hat back from where it had been resting on River’s curls. “Going to go all Mr Catch-me-if-you-can, aren’t you?” He asked with a cheeky smile – one that was returned immediately.

 

“That would be the plan, Captain.”

 

**o.O.o**

As it turned out, Ianto wouldn’t do a very good cowboy.

 

Everyone else enjoyed the sunlight. River was lying down, practically soaking up the unusually bright rays, the Doctor was relaxed and even Jack enjoyed it – Ianto liked to drag him only to gloomy, rainy places and the Captain was starting to think that Cardiff had been a perfect habitat for someone like him.

 

Ianto was currently hiding in the shadows of the nearest tree and had so far resisted any attempt that Jack had made to lure him out under the sun.

 

“This is supposed to be a picnic. You’re _meant_ to have a sunbath. ” River said, looking up at him from under the Stetson she’d conquered again. The Doctor had briefly protested against the injustice of everyone getting to wear it except for him, but had been quickly silenced with a kiss from her. Jack wondered absent-mindedly if she had both the Doctor and Ianto wrapped around her little finger because it was a Time Lady thing – who knew, they might have been like sirens – or because, if it hadn’t been for his own cautiousness, he’d fall into the trap of those bright, blue-green eyes as well, but his attention snapped back to Ianto as the man shook his head.

 

“I’m good here. We might want to get back before sunset, though. From what I know, this planet gets really cold once the moon rises.”

 

The Doctor nodded as he took a bite from his biscuit and Jack knew by his expression alone that it was trivia time. “That it does. We’re on Petria-4 – relatively small planet but one of the few human colonies that developed a system with countries. That up there,” he pointed to the large blue planet hanging in the sky, “Is their only moon. It’s covered in deep layers of ice and when the sun goes down, the whole planet basically freezes up. The locals have a clothing system developed especially for that and they’ve adapter – they’re humans, after all. During daytime, though... the temperatures are usually pretty high.”

 

Jack looked around them. There were other people outside, of course, most of them just resting and enjoying their free time like the four of them did. There were mostly humanoids, even several species that Jack couldn’t place by name but was sure he had seen before. Everything seemed absolutely normal and yet, there was something out of place. The people were moving, laughing and walking around but everything else was just... frozen.

 

“Moral of the story,” Ianto muttered darkly. “No matter where and when I am, my birthday will be in a day hotter than the eighth circle of Hell.”

 

“Why not the ninth?” Jack asked curiously – Ianto was usually terribly precise with metaphors – only to have River snort. “Because the ninth circle is supposed to be _cold_ , genius.”

 

“Please tell me you’ve read Dante’s Divine Comedy,” Ianto said with mock horror in his voice and Jack wanted to defend himself but just then, the Doctor shushed them all.

 

“What is it?” River asked, tension immediately replacing the light-hearted banter. Jack reached for his gun – more of an instinct than something else – and saw her and Ianto do exactly the same. The Doctor would be pleased. “Something wrong?”

 

“Look over there,” the Doctor nodded to a small squad of uniformed guards – Jack guessed the status by the weapons practically sewed into their clothes – were walking among the people, saying a few words to everyone. The citizens just nodded and gave the guards their arm, after which they let it through some strange sort of scanner, then let them go and moved to the next ones.

 

Ianto finally stopped lurking in the shadows and came close to them, watching intently. “What do you think’s happening?” His voice was quiet and focused and Jack briefly glanced at him to see that he was fully on guard.

 

“Counting the population, maybe,” River suggested. “You know, for statistics.”

 

It did seem to be something like that, because it didn’t look like the people were forced into it, neither was it hurting them in any way. Maybe it was just a more advanced system than answering to all the questions they needed online. The last time Jack had seen someone do that was Gwen and Ianto in the Hub as they fussed whether they needed to put something about their job or just leave it at ‘unemployed’ so no one would ask questions.

 

Two men from the squad approached them, the first one holding the scanner and the second carrying a small device that probably showed the results. The one with the scanner had pasted a polite smile onto his face as he came closer and took in their borderline hostile expressions.

 

“Hello,” he greeted. “You have nothing to worry about; this is just a routine check.” When no one reacted, he made a step closer to them. “So if you would just... thank you,” he added quickly when the Doctor silently extended his hand. He went through all of them, then looked at his colleague expectantly.

 

“Three Time Lords,” the man said, still staring at the data he was apparently getting. “Two from Gallifrey, one from the Gamma Forests.” Jack looked at River, surprised, and saw that she was frowning and ready to object. “And one human from Boeshane Peninsula.” He smiled at them again. “Welcome to Petria-4!”

 

“Thank you,” the Doctor said cautiously. “These scans, what are they for?”

 

“I told you,” the man said with a touch of impatience as he pulled out another scanner out of his uniform. “Just a routine check.” He took the Doctor’s hand again, running it under the small purple light of his device.

 

“Marked,” the man behind him said and the first guard nodded to himself, moving onto River. “So is she.” There was a green light on top of the scanner, Jack noticed just as it approached Ianto and started blinking between red and green. “Unmarked. But... it’s his birthday today, sir.”

 

“Really?” The man looked at Ianto and he nodded. “What are you turning?”

 

“Twenty-six,” Ianto said, apparently doing his best not to look like he wanted to fight back.

 

“Well, what are you waiting for, then? I’ll make an exception, but I’ll have to come check up on you in a week.”

 

“I don’t think I’d be here in a week,” Ianto muttered and the man frowned.

 

“What do you mean? Ghanan is currently closed for visitors.” Ghanan was probably the name of the country they were in, Jack thought as the Doctor put in, trying to save the situation, “What he was trying to say was that we’re living in the mountain, so it might be hard for you to find us.”

 

Thinking of the Doctor, did _all_ his decisions have to be massively inconvenient, even when he was trying to do someone a favour? It was becoming kind of a habit.

 

“I’m sure we’ll manage,” the guard said, reaching for Jack’s hand. As the scanner passed over his hand, jack tried to silence the feeling of dread that was rising inside him, but to no avail. Especially when the light turned red and the scanner started screeching quietly, and the guards’s eyes hardened. “Unmarked.”


	25. Day Twenty-Five: Getting Married

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I did not mean for this to go this way. I really didn't. But - hey, prompts. So you can decide whether it counts or not, given the circumstances.

“Explain,” the guard said, his tone surprisingly mild considering the look of absolute mistrust he was currently giving Jack.

 

“What exactly is this mark you’re talking about?” The Doctor put in again, before Jack had had the chance to say that he had no idea what was going on. The guard raised an eyebrow, then sighed and dismissed his colleague with a wave, lowering himself to the ground so that he could talk to them without risking to be heard.

 

“Look, you lot are obviously not from around here, but I can’t let you go now. The Emperor’s orders. I suppose you’re running away from the war. That’s how you ended up here, right?”

 

“Yes,” River put in quickly and Jack wasn’t sure if it was her best or worst idea. She smiled at the guard, trying to be as helpless and clueless as she could. River, as the Captain had noticed several times, was not good at pretending to be helpless – it just wasn’t in her nature – but the man apparently fell for it, because his expression softened. “Could you tell us what’s going on?”

 

“Like I said, the Emperor’s orders,” the guard repeated, sitting down next to them. “He thinks that if we’re standing proudly together in the difficult times, we’re going to create a stable and practically indestructible country. He’s taken a lot of measures to make it happen and the biggest one yet is the one concerning partnership. Once you turn of age – which is twenty-one – you have to find a partner and you have five years to do it.”

 

“What if you don’t?” Jack asked warily. He could sense where this was going and he definitely didn’t like it.

 

“There’s no ‘if’ about it. You have to find someone.”

 

“This is the most ridiculous law I’ve ever heard,” Ianto put in rather unhelpfully. “How is this going to create a stable society? We’re talking marriage here, right?” The guard nodded. “Your Emperor isn’t a very bright one, is he?”

 

“Don’t say that,” the man hissed, visibly tensing. “He’s got eyes and ears everywhere. You’re in the system now and, since you’re registered as unmarked, you have a week to find someone suitable. As for you...” He turned to Jack. “There must be someone. Do you have a partner? You might have one and it’d be fine if we only mark you now.”

 

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it again, unsure. He didn’t want to involve Ianto in this, but he didn’t seem to have much of a choice. “If you disobey that law,” he started slowly. “What happens to you?”

 

“Death penalty, and the planet is basically in a lockdown, so don’t even think about it.” The guard was getting impatient and, even though Jack guessed that death wouldn’t be that much of a problem, God knew what they’d do to him if they found out he couldn’t die. Ianto was right – the institution wasn’t the cleverest one. “Do you have a partner or not?”

 

Silence descended again, then Ianto sheepishly raised his hand. “That would be me.”

 

“Then what are we still doing here? You’ve got to be the only ones in the whole _country_. And I’d bet good money that the Emperor already knows about– ah.” They all turned to follow the gaze of the guard, only to see several people in uniforms similar to his approaching them. “That would be the back-up. You need two witnesses.”

 

“Wait a minute here,” Jack started protesting, but was silenced when a gun was pressed against his back and he saw, with the corner of his eye, the same happening to Ianto.

 

“Are they family?” The guard pointed to the Doctor and River, paying little to no attention to any protests coming from any of them and Jack sighed and resignation. “As close as we’ve got to one.”

 

“Very good. You’ve got your two witnesses, then. Now get going.”

 

**o.O.o**

As they were marched to a building that was probably the city hall, Jack tried to inch as close to Ianto as he could. “I’m sorry,” he managed to whisper in the Time Lord’s ear, making Ianto turn around in surprise and look at him questioningly. “About this. It was my idea to come here. You wouldn’t be involved in this if it weren’t for me.”

 

Ianto smiled encouragingly. “It’s okay. And plus, it doesn’t have to count if we don’t want it to, right?” If he wasn’t being pushed forward by force, Jack would have probably stopped in his tracks by this point. “I mean, what does it matter? We’re on a planet we’re never going to visit again – once they do it, they’ll let us leave. What’s the difference whether we’re married _here_ or not?”

 

“...Right,” Jack muttered, suddenly wanting to look anywhere but at his lover, just so Ianto wouldn’t catch the look in his eyes. “Of course.”

 

“Unless you want it to count,” Ianto hurried to add and Jack was somewhat ashamed of the fact that he seemed to be able to breathe more easily now. It wasn’t so much for the marriage itself – even though he still couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea of being married to Ianto – than for the carelessness with which Ianto had thrown the mere thought of it away. “Then we can, you know, do it properly.”

 

“We could,” Jack agreed, then fell silent as the guard they’d first met several hours ago reappeared with a small smile.

 

“Both of your home worlds have been studied and looked over. We’ll do our best to provide anything you might need for you and your witnesses to perform the rituals which you are used to.”

 

“How considerate of you,” Ianto threw in under his breath, but Jack had noticed several times until now that sarcasm wasn’t appreciated – or understood – around here and the point was proven when the man smiled. “I’m glad you appreciate it. Now, if you’d just follow me...”

 

Ten more minutes and Jack and Ianto were sitting together in a small room while their ‘witnesses’ had been sent to explain their situation to the local authorities and bring them everything they would need. Neither of them said a word and Jack was rather glad that it was like that; things would probably get ugly if any of them opened his mouth right now.

 

Just then, the Doctor returned, carrying a pile of clothes in his arms, as well as two seemingly shapeless golden objects on top of them. “Ceremonial clothes! The archives here have information of basically every species you can think of _and_ also 3D printers – how cool is that? – so you can get everything you need.”

 

Jack had never been more grateful that his planet was constantly living on fear of being attacked and people didn’t have much time for such things. Weddings were short and sort of frantic and everyone got married in their daily clothes, so he got a shirt and trousers – one made from a special fabric that didn’t wear off on the sun and the sand, he knew, and it suddenly brought a wave of nostalgia he hadn’t expected.

 

His gratefulness only increased when he looked at the clothes the Doctor and Ianto were currently fighting with – floor-length blood red robes with a lot of different motives on them, most of which golden, and a symbol that looked a bit like an hourglass on their chest. The shapeless metal things turned out to be some sort of headdresses and, before he knew it, Jack had forgotten all his worries and was just sitting back and enjoying the show as they fumbled about with them.

 

“I’m pretty sure this is supposed, to go over my shoulders,” Ianto said tersely as the Doctor placed it on his head with an authority that lesser men would have not dared to question. “Doctor, it’s _upside down_.” The younger Time Lord glared daggers at Jack as the Captain started laughing. “If you can’t help, Jack, then could you try not to make it worse?”

 

Jack’s smile died just as there was a knock on the door and then River’s voice from outside. “You lot dressed yet? They said we’ve got to be ready in ten.”

 

“Everything’s covered enough for your virgin eyes,” Jack called out and, with a snort, she came in, only to stop by the door. She was dressed in similar clothes – the same colour, only it was a dress instead of the robes that had been given to Ianto and the Doctor and her own... crown? – was smaller, ending just at the bag of her head. “Give me that,” she said, apparently annoyed, and took the thing from the Doctor’s arms, placing it on Ianto’s shoulders and head properly, only to do the same with the Doctor moments later. “There you go. All ready. They agreed to give us a bit of privacy – there are cameras, of course, so we don’t try anything – and apparently, they’re being very forward-thinking for allowing an interspecies marriage, so–”

"Allowing?" Ianto's voice was incredulous. "It's not like we _asked_ for this!"

"Quiet, you," River said mildly with a glance at the cameras as a warning, then offered the Doctor a piece of cloth. "There we go. Since the rituals of your places of origin are in complete opposites, we'll have to do a bit of a mix-up. Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded, probably mostly to himself. "Right. From Jack's side we take the vows, from Ianto's - the ritual itself, so here you go." He took both of their arms and wrapped the cloth around them, tying them up together, only for River to click her tongue in disapproval. "You're doing it wrong," she informed him and came next tp him, untying it with deft fingers. "This is the configuration for arranged marriage. Can't you see? You're basically tying them up. It shouldn't be like that!"

"How do you even  _know_  that?"

"How do you  _not_?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Ianto said, his voice quiet and collected and Jack might have fell for it if it weren't for his face - even paler than usual - and his trembling hand. ", but can you do this later?"

"Sorry," the Doctor said, then shook his head. "Sorry, she's right. This is important, so now, if either of you feels forced into this, you have to tell me now."

There were several moments of silence before Jack spoke. "I'm doing it willingly." Even without looking at Ianto, he could tell that he was surprised before the man echoed his words and Jack felt like the heaviest weight he'd ever had on his heart had just fallen. "I'm doing it willingly, too."

The Doctor clapped his hands. "Very well! Now, we'll do it properly. Take the two ends of this and grip it tightly; I want you to say whatever feels right. The concept of wedding vows is unknown to Time Lords, but on Boeshane Peninsula, there are vows exchanged, so... say whatever feels right." He stepped back, trying to give them space.

"Ianto," Jack started as soon as he had the time to pull his thoughts together and he looked right at his lover's eyes, trying to focus. "There is a saying we had back home - coming from an old book on Earth, as far as I know - and it says, ' _Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death.'_  I believe you understand what I'm trying to say with it and why it applies even more to us than anyone else and that no matter what happens, my love for you will always be stronger than death. Your seal on my heart is something that will remain there forever and believe me when I tell you, even if the circumstances are the way they are, I do believe that I would have told you that at some point anyway."

Ianto nodded, then blushed as if realising that he was acting as if Jack was giving him instructions during a boardroom meeting. "Okay," he began with an air of determination. "Jack, you all of all people know that I'm not one for words, and there's only one thing to say that feels right, so..." His voice died and Jack smiled in encouragement as he saw the Doctor giving Ianto the thumbs up with the corner of his eye and when Ianto spoke again, there was something different in his voice. Something he couldn't quite place as the words translated automatically to his mind anyway, but there was something new in them and he didn't break the gaze they were still holding even if his voice was trembling slightly. " _I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way than this: where I does not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep._ "

His voice wavered rather uncharacteristically towards the end and the Doctor stepped forward again, only to have River drag him back by his - quite long right now - sleeve as discreetly as she could, but he was apparently unable to hold back. "Now for most species, this is traditionally the point when-"

"Yeah, Doc, I think I can take it from here," Jack cut in, linking his hand with Ianto's by the cloth that separated them and brought his lover close for a rather enthusiastic kiss which Ianto returned in kind. Jack didn't know what he had expected from him by this point, but it hadn't been this; hadn't been anything close to the waves of satisfaction coming from Ianto right now.

"Okay, if we're done here, can we go back to the TARDIS? This thing makes my back hurt."

The Doctor's voice came from somewhere left of them and Jack could just see River rolling her eyes at the remark. Neither of them paid them any mind, though; Jack pulled back, one hand still on Ianto's face and the other on his gold-clad shoulders as his eyes searched for any clues as to what he was feeling from his expression. "Are we... is everything..." He was strangely lost for words; scared to ask because he was afraid of the answer. The several last weeks with Ianto had taught him to be tentative when it came to anything on an emotional level. "Are we okay?"

Ianto's smile was enough to light up even the gloomy room they were currently crammed in.

"We're  _perfect_."


	26. Day Twenty-Six: Gazing Ianto Each Other's Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, a bit on the short side, but then again, the prompt is a bit like that. I wanted to connect it to last chapter somehow, because there are only four chapters left after that and I wanted it all to be tied up for the last one, so I hope you enjoy it.  
> In case someone missed it (which I doubt), in the part where they’re talking about Amy and Rory’s honeymoon, I’m referencing to A Christmas Carol.

When Jack woke up the next morning, it was to Ianto still sleeping. Ianto tended to spread his long limbs around when he was asleep and now was no exception – one leg was thrown over Jack’s thigh, while Ianto’s left hand was draped over the Captain’s shoulder and the right one was hanging off the bed. He was so peaceful and relaxed that Jack didn’t have the heart to move and wake him up, so he just stared at him for a while.

 

As far as wedding nights went, this one had been breathtaking in every way it could have been. Ianto had always been a considerate lover but last night, he had showered Jack with attention more than ever before and the Captain briefly wondered if it had been his way to make up for the mess they’ve found themselves into through the last few days.

 

 _Married_. Jack allowed himself to think the word in the several minutes that were probably left before Ianto could wake up and laugh away and discredit the whole thing, just like the Captain was quite sure he would do. He had been all smiles and happiness while they had still been there, but by now Jack had burned himself enough times to not trust him in that department and he was ashamed to admit that he enjoyed the idea of being married to Ianto, even if the man in question didn’t quite see things like that.

 

Jack sighed loudly and Ianto – who was usually sleeping basically with one eye open – shifted on the bed, his eyes fluttering open and the usual small, startled gasp leaving his lips.

 

Jack twisted around in his arms so he could look at him and smiled warmly. Jack loved these first moments after his lover woke up, because they were the only ones when Ianto’s eyes were completely unshielded and honest. There was no pretence, no lie, no desire to put on two or three different masks for the first twenty minutes of his day alone. “Morning.”

 

“Hullo,” Ianto mumbled, accent thicker with sleep as he blinked several times, trying to clear his vision. When Jack kept staring at him, the memories from yesterday seemingly came back to the Time Lord and he buried his head in his pillow with a groan. “I thought it was just a dream.”

 

Jack clicked his tongue. “That’s not a way to flatter a man, you know.”

 

“I know.” Ianto smiled; it was barely noticeable and still a bit hesitant, but Jack liked to see it as a good start. “It’s just... strange to think of it.”

 

“It is,” Jack agreed. The concept was still new and his mind wasn’t completely used to it, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t want it to stick around. “Who would think? The two of us, married. I wouldn’t have believed it in a million years.”

 

“Me neither,” Ianto said, shifting about a bit until he was on top of Jack and could touch their foreheads together. “I’m sorry about what I said before we got in there. It can count and it’s not like it’s going to change anything, right?”

 

“Of course it’s not going to change anything,” Jack said. “I just wanted to know that we’re on the same page. Otherwise, we’ve had enough changes. And, by the way... happy birthday. I never got the chance to say it, being dragged away by the police and all that.”

 

Even up this close, Jack could see Ianto rolling his eyes. “I just really hope that the birthdays to come won’t be filled with arrests on unknown human colonies with highly questionable laws.”

 

“You love it.”

 

“I do,” Ianto admitted and seemed to be about to say something when there was a knock on the door. He rolled off Jack and pulled the duvet up to their chest before calling out, “Come in.”

 

“There you are,” the Doctor said, closing the door behind himself. “I thought you were up already.”

 

“We are,” Jack said, popping up to his elbows. “Has something happened?” The Doctor had never came to look for them before and Jack suspected that it was out of fear from being scarred for life, so it was probably an emergency.

 

 “What?” The Time Lord frowned. “No! No, nothing’s happened. I thought I might take you somewhere you like – you know, honeymoon and all that jazz.”

 

“Yeah,” Ianto said sceptically. “I’ve talked to your companions one single time and I know how well _that_ went for them.”

 

“It was an accident!” The Doctor spluttered, indignation flooding his features. “It wasn’t my fault! And yet, it’s probably best to recommend you solid ground instead of spaceships or planes.” He shuddered at the mere thought of it and Jack wasn’t sure if it was because of whatever had happened to Amy and Rory or because the idea of Jack and Ianto on a plane scared him. “Come on, up you get! Any planet, any time you’d like! What do you think?”

 

“Jack?” Ianto looked sideways with him and when their eyes locked, for the first time since they’d known one another Jack saw that at least one of the masks had fallen. “What do you think?”

 

“Have you got something in mind?” Jack asked. Ianto’s enthusiasm was contagious, even if he was trying to hide it, and he found himself looking forward to it – whatever ‘it’ was.

 

“Oh, yes,” Ianto said immediately, the smile transforming into a manic grin Jack had seen so rarely. “ _Everything_.”


	27. Day Twenty-Seven: Watching Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I’m going all cheesy and honeymoon-y on you now. The next one will still be just the two of them travelling, but it’ll be a bit darker, so I thought I’d make it up in advance. And plus, I couldn’t resist – in the time zone where I live, it’s the morning of the third of July and I thought I’d give my American readers a bit of a wink.  
> As for that, by the way, I’m not American, so if something about the celebration is out of place, blame it on the fourteen centuries that have passed since your time. My knowledge about the Fourth of July ends with history facts and a vague idea of fireworks and everything else is the impression I’ve got of it from Percy Jackson and Yahoo Answers, so I hope you like it.

The sky was starless - or at least so it seemed - but that wasn't that much of a surprise. After all, it was New York in the early thirty-fourth century - the pollution was certainly not as significant as it had been in the twenty-first and yet, the lights of the city were too bright for the stars to shine down at them.

 

"I still can't believe it," Jack said as they made their way to Long Island through the crowd. "First of all, you've been everywhere and everywhen and you've never been in America? And second... really? We could be anywhere. You could choose the most peaceful place in the Universe, considering everything that has happened to us, and you chose  _New York_?"

 

"You said it's my choice," Ianto objected indignantly, glancing sideways at Jack in disapproval. "You lost the right to judge said choice once we get out of the TARDIS, and not only because you decided it was my choice but also because the Doctor left. And plus, I've never seen the fireworks."  


Jack thought that it was perhaps a good idea to introduce Ianto to television some time soon and explain to him that the Internet could be used for more than researching potential aliens and looking for suspicious people's backstories and maybe, maybe, next time they'd pick a better place than the Fourth of July to satisfy his curiosity over something that could easily be seen online. He was also well aware that Ianto would never pick some place up in the mountains or something like that; whatever he said about it, Ianto was a city boy through and through. He liked jogging in the park in the early morning and that was about as close to mother nature as he'd probably ever get, and big cities fascinated him. For all of his closed attitude to the outside world, he loved the feel of the crows around them.  


And New York _was_ crowded, even more so right now, but they had quite some time to get to the beach they’d picked and Jack couldn’t say that he didn’t enjoy the walk. The lights of the city were flashing all around them and the night summer air was breezy and full of anticipation. He had never got the idea of festivities like this one, especially when they marked something that had happened so long ago – nearly two millennia now, and they were still celebrating it as if they had signed the damn thing hours ago.

 

They  were both wearing clothes made from some recycled fabric everyone seemed to use here, and Jack felt as if he were a part of the people around them; suddenly and unexpectedly felt their presence stronger than he had ever since he’d been made immortal. He wasn’t a supervisor of humanity now; he belonged here, even if it was a place and time he’d never visited before.

 

His hand, where it was holding Ianto’s, tightened its grip and he turned his lover around so they could face each other and they both stopped in their tracks. It was the middle of the street, but nobody seemed to care – there weren’t all that much cars around anymore.

 

“Thank you,” Jack said before leaning in for a kiss – a slow and thorough, too, because he wanted Ianto to catch on to the feeling poured in it. “For all of this.”

 

A small, pleased smile curled Ianto’s lips. “I thought you didn’t like the idea.”

 

“I thought so too,” Jack said warmly. “But you just always know best, don’t you?”

 

Ianto laughed as if it were obvious. “Of course I do. Haven’t you heard? I know everything.”

 

**o.O.o**

The beach was just as full of people – if not even more – as the main streets of the city, only here everyone had mostly settled down for the night and there were campfires in front of every small group of people that had formed. Long Island had changed significantly since the last time Jack had been here – which, admittedly, had been in the fifties. The nineteen-fifties, too, and quite some time had passed since then. Jack looked around himself to see that the sun was just setting, several lonely fireworks already making their way to the sky, even though the major show hadn’t started yet.

 

“You’ve really never seen that?” He asked curiously, turning to Ianto. “The fireworks?” They were sitting next to each other, Jack’s arm over Ianto’s shoulders and Ianto’s around the Jack’s waist as the Time Lord stared unseeingly into the water. He shook his head.

 

“Never. Well, I think I might have – once or twice in films – and I’ve visited Earth several times before, but we were in the middle of a war by that time, so I suppose they didn’t have a lot of time for festivities. It would be a bit ironic, huh? Celebrating Independence Day while Daleks are trying to take over.”

 

“Yeah. Pity that Americans don’t understand irony, right?” Jack said, repeating something that Ianto had once told him. The man laughed heartily. “Where did you get that one, actually?”

 

“A book I read long ago,” Ianto answered, toying with the straw of the cup he was holding. “I don’t even remember the name. Although, there was something–”

 

“What?” Jack asked. Ianto was suddenly on guard and the Captain didn’t like that. After all, they had purposefully picked a place and time where simply nothing could go wrong. “What is it?”

 

Ianto shook his head. “Never mind. Must have been mistaken. Like I said, not really important. But I thought that watching fireworks on the beach was pretty honeymoon-worthy,” he continued. Jack could recognise jumping from topic to topic when he saw one, but he was pretty sure that Ianto wasn’t even aware of doing it, so he didn’t press the matter. “You know,‘s romantic and all.”

 

“That it is,” Jack agreed softly, pressing Ianto even closer to himself just as the scenery before them – as if by command – was suddenly lit up from everywhere; millions and billions of stars lighting up the sky just for them.


	28. Day Twenty-Eight: Out of Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, for such a prompt, of course I was going to send them to Victorian times (and yes, I do know that the prompt was properly referring to the ‘running out of time’ sense of the expression, but we’ve got time travel here. I’ve got every right). That’s what I usually do with characters anyway and plus, a Victorian Christmas is, well, like Christmas morning to me and I feel like I put a lot more feeling into it than into the New York one (and it’s also long as hell when compared to most of the chapters), so I hope you enjoy it.

“If we end up in the Victorian era one more time – I don’t care which country it is – I am never going to let you out of the TARDIS again.”

 

“Don’t be like that, Jack.” Ianto’s voice was cheerful and light-hearted as he swung his cane around. He’d brought it mostly because it suited his clothes, and Jack couldn’t deny that said clothes had been well-chosen: Ianto was wearing a suit again, only this one was compliant to the age they’d arrived in – a top hat and a long coat. “It’s going to be fun.”

 

“I keep telling you, you’re romanticising an era that really wasn’t all that great.”

 

“You’re the last person I know that can talk about romanticising a few years of human history, _Captain_ ,” Ianto said pointedly. “And plus, it’s nice, look. Not all that crowded as it was when I lived here, carriages and corseted dresses and–”

 

“And the smell of smoke and horse, ah, leftovers all over the place,” Jack said tersely. “Very romantic. Just what we needed. Are you sure you understand the definition of ‘calm and quiet’, Ianto?”

 

“’Course I do.” Ianto was all innocence now; wide blue eyes staring back at Jack and daring him to blame him for anything. “London is very calm and quiet in the late 19th century.”

 

“Yeah, and that’s why all sorts of fishy stuff is happening everywhere,” the Captain said darkly. “Seriously, Ianto, if I didn’t know better I’d think you’ve purposefully dragged us into trouble.”

 

“Never.” Ianto threw him a scandalised look. “I just wanted to enjoy the place. We could rent a house, with servants and everything. The TARDIS gave us enough money for it if we’ll only stay a week and even I have to admit that hotels in this time are suspicious places. You want a honeymoon and a honeymoon you shall get. You’ll see. It’s gonna be amazing.”

 

**o.O.o**

Only several hours later, they had already chosen a house and Jack had managed to convince himself that he was only playing along because he liked the sight of Ianto in a top hat. The year and the city really weren’t all that bad and there was no chance of running into Torchwood yet, so he let himself enjoy it. Ianto seemed to be entertained by anything this time and place could offer him and Jack soon found that he felt very much the same way. There was no knowing if it was Ianto’s influence or his own opinion, though.

 

Ianto had made sure that they were recreating everything with historical accuracy. Jack could tell that he was doing it for his benefit from the expectant looks he chanced at Jack every now and then when he decided to try something typical for that age that was also new for him, and for the most part, the Captain approved of it all.

 

Jack could bet on anything that Ianto was paying good money to the servants to keep their mouths shut for anything that happened in the house and, after the first night of general ‘getting used to the situation’ kind of fuss, he realised that he could very much see this working, especially when Ianto fell asleep with a smile on his face as they both brought the covers – full of feathers and yet strangely light – over their bodies to try and shield themselves from the winter frost outside. Through the window, Jack could see the snow-covered rooftops of the buildings in London. He could see Big Ben in the yellowish dark sky as the snow quietly fell outside and wondered what exactly could be happening in Ianto’s beautiful mind that made him see this as the perfect place to live.

 

It wasn’t until three days later when Jack actually found out _when_ exactly Ianto had chosen for them to be. He knew that it was winter, of course, but it was only when one of the servants said “Merry Christmas, Mr Jones!” that Jack realised it and lifted an eyebrow in Ianto’s direction. “Christmas, eh? First your birthday, then the Fourth of July and now Christmas?”

 

“Go big or go home is what most people would have said to this,” Ianto said delicately, then shouted after the maid, “Becky, tell the others they can go home. You can leave too, when you like. I left your payment in the kitchen.”

 

Becky turned around, her expression one of a pleasant surprise, then nodded. “Thank you, Mr Jones.”

 

Everyone in the house responded to Ianto because he’d introduced Jack as his cousin from America and, even though Jack suspected that at least the staff of the house knew the truth, it hadn’t been brought up until now.

 

“You’re really in your element here, aren’t you?” He asked as Ianto put on his gloves with the air of someone who had just finished a job well done. “Seriously, what is it with you and this century? I thought it was some strange fixation at first, but now I’m starting to think there’s more to it.

 

Ianto shook his head as they went out of the house, Jack tightening his coat around himself. He had changed his usual clothes mostly because he didn’t want to cause paradoxes and now felt frankly uncomfortable in what he was wearing. Not because there was something wrong with the clothes, but because it was plain unusual.

 

Even after all these years, he still wasn’t used to the cold. It had never been cold where he’d been born and he guessed that it was somehow in his genes to not stand any temperature below twenty degrees. He remembered his team in Torchwood in their entirety – Ianto, Gwen and Owen had fought the rain bravely or for the most of the time hadn’t really paid attention to it, and Tosh took the coldness as a mild annoyance and it didn’t seem to bother her too much either, so Jack had always been putting all his faith in his coat.

 

“Not really,” Ianto answered to his previous question and his voice pulled Jack out of his thoughts. “I’ve just – ever since I became human, that was what I saw the most. Queen Victoria, the founder of Torchwood. Britain’s greatest queen. I just started thinking that it was a bit of an Utopia here and... well, I was right. And yes, today _is_ Christmas Eve. I’ve rarely ever celebrated Christmas, so it seemed fitting.”

 

Thinking about it, Jack realised that Ianto must have had only five Christmases in his life and Ianto apparently caught up on that train of thought, because he nodded almost unnoticeably. “The first Christmas on Earth I spent by myself – I wasn’t completely sure what it was for and what I was meant to do and now I know why it was like that. The second and the third, I was with Lisa. She had a million cousins and aunts and wanted to send presents and postcards to all of them and so she dragged me around the shops and I didn’t even know what advice was expected,” Ianto’s smile was warm, if a bit sadder now, and Jack could see that he was looking down the street without really seeing anything. “The fourth one was with the team.” Jack laughed at the memory of this particular Christmas; it had been something he liked to bring up all the time, mostly because it embarrassed Ianto. It was the infamous case with the single malt and the Weevil and Ianto didn’t particularly fancy being reminded of it, considering he mercifully didn’t remember most of it. “And this is the fifth one.”

 

And the only one that wasn’t marked by a tragedy in Ianto’s memories, too, Jack thought. The first one had been right after he’d been torn out of his own world, and the losses Torchwood had forced upon him shadowed the other ones, so it was only fair if they did something to change that. Jack, on the contrary, had had many Christmases but he had rarely enjoyed any of them quite as much because of the same reasons – Torchwood took everything away and didn’t leave anybody with much to be happy about, and that meant that they both had something more to expect from a holiday that they weren’t born with but that had often brought them hope.

 

“Let’s make it perfect, then.”

 

**o.O.o**

Looking at the situation later, Jack realised that he should have known that it wouldn’t be that easy and that perhaps, it wasn’t always the Doctor’s fault. Just as they got back to the house, well into the evening, with all the things that in their opinion could make a good holiday, Ianto practically collapsed in his arms.

 

“Ianto, what’s wrong?” Jack asked immediately as Ianto leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, biting his lower pip in concentration. Jack knew that look; had seen it a million times ever since he’d hired Ianto to work for him. It was the look he got when he was in pain but wanted to hide it. “Talk to me!”

 

“There’s something... Jack, you’ve got to call the Doctor.”

 

“Why, what is it?” The Captain tried to help Ianto as he held tight onto the wall and started going up the stairs, seemingly with a lot of effort.

 

“You know that when we’re children, they get us to see the Vortex.” Jack nodded curtly. “Well, it does things to you. It’s happened to the Doctor and he warned me. It’s a bit like... getting glimpses of yourself in the future. It’s a paradox and that’s never good and– Ah!” Ianto’s fingers clawed at the wall as he tried to keep himself up.

 

“None of that, you,” Jack said firmly and swiftly pulled Ianto up in his arm. “Come on. We’ve got to get you to bed before you fall down the stairs and break your head open, I wouldn’t put it past you. Then I’ll call the Doctor.”

 

Despite Ianto’s protests that he could walk on his own, Jack took him up the stairs with no difficulty – Ianto had always been the scrawny type and back on Earth Jack had carried him to the bedroom just because the undignified muttering and struggling amused him greatly.

 

“How did it feel?” he asked once Ianto was already in their bed, still with his clothes on. “Looking into the Vortex?”

 

Ianto smiled tiredly. “Amazing. At first I was scared – they came to take me at night and I thought I’d done something wrong and when they led me there– it was amazing, Jack. It was so much. I couldn’t tear my eyes off it and at last, one of the supervisors had to make me look away because it was dangerous.”

 

And Jack could picture it perfectly – eight-years-old Ianto staring at all of time and space and having no desire to ever, ever stop. There was a moment of fleeting anger at the Time Lords for doing this to their children.  He could remember clearly what the Doctor had said. _Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad_. He might have been wrong – some were inspired and some ran away, but they all went at least a little mad and really, it was no wonder that Gallifrey had fallen, because a perfect society can swift its imperfections under the carpet for only so long.

 

“What did you see, just now?” Jack asked, even though he knew what the response would be. And he wasn’t surprised – Ianto just shook his head. “You know I can’t tell you.”

 

“Okay.” With a sigh of resignation, Jack stood up from his place at the foot of the bed. “You go to sleep, and I’ll call the Doctor.”

 

**o.O.o**

In the next two days as they waited for the Doctor (he had told Jack that he’d land ‘as close as possible’ and yet, close wasn’t close enough) Ianto didn’t get worse but he didn’t get better either and Jack was frustrated at his inability to help. Ianto took the situation as a proper young gentleman from this century probably would – he remained in bed, all pale and romantic, and refused everything the increasingly concerned servants tried to bring to him. If the situation weren’t so serious, the Captain supposed that he would have been amused by it, but as it was, the only thing he felt was immense relief when the TARDIS materialised right into the bedroom.

 

“You’re two days off, but at least the location’s perfect,” Jack said instead of a greeting as the Doctor came out and immediately spotted Ianto on the bed.

 

“I’m sorry,” he murmured as he pressed his fingers against Ianto’s temples. “I thought they’d made it better with time. That it wouldn’t be as bad for the new ones they accepted.”

 

“It’s not that bad,” Ianto croaked. “It’s just... exhausting.”

 

“It’s a paradox,” the Doctor gritted his teeth. “It’s draining your power; you’re not supposed to see that. Come on, in you go. Jack, take your luggage. The TARDIS’ll try to help him in the meantime.”

 

Jack sighed and did as told while the Doctor helped Ianto into the TARDIS and the Captain tried to remember how many times that had happened before. No, living with Time Lords definitely wasn’t easy. But it was worth it.


	29. Day Twenty-Nine: Cooking/Baking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a silly little piece for a silly little prompt.

Several days had passed since they’d got back in the TARDIS and Jack had forgotten the accident that had actually put end to their otherwise nice-going honeymoon. They’d got back to the usual routine – if there was such a thing as a routine in their life – and one morning, in search of Ianto who hadn’t been in bed when Jack had woken up, he’d ended up in the kitchen for the first time since he was on board.

 

The Doctor was sitting on the table, eating something that looked like white plasma with yellow dots scattered all over it. “ _What_ is that?” Jack asked in disgust, the Ianto case momentarily forgotten. He had noticed that all of his fellow travellers had the strangest taste for food and yet, this won all the awards at once.

 

“Boiled eggs!” The Doctor said, poking the thing with his spoon. “Ianto made them for me.”

 

“Oh.” Jack’s eyes widened. “God, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

 

“Of course I am.” The Doctor frowned, eyes dancing suspiciously between his plate and Jack. “What do you mean?”

 

“Ianto can’t cook,” Jack said, lowering his voice just in case the man in question was somewhere about. “He really can’t. He knows the theory, but can’t actually do anything with it to save his life. Look at these things.” He nodded to the Doctor’s eggs. “Seriously, he means good, but I wouldn’t eat it if I were you.”

 

“I see you’ve went back to degrading my cooking skills,” Ianto’s voice came from the door opposite of Jack – all roads led to the kitchen, it seemed – and he looked up to see his lover leaning against the doorframe, a lazy smile playing on his lips and a towel wrapped around his hips. “The eggs would have been brilliant if the hot plate wasn’t older than the Solar System.”

 

“Where’ve you been?” Jack asked while also deftly avoided the egg comments. “I’ve been looking for you.”

 

“I wanted to try the pool. And don’t change the topic,” he added as he apparently noticed the way the Captain was eyeing him up and down appraisingly (after all, not even potential food poisoning could be a distraction enough from Ianto in nothing but a towel), and turned to the Doctor. “Don’t listen to the lies he’s feeding you. I’m an amazing cook.”

 

“Yeah, remember what happened last time?”

 

“What happened last time?” The Doctor asked warily, dropping his fork. Jack shook his head forlornly. “Don’t ask. It’s a very sad story involving a pile of pancakes and a tank of prehistoric fish.”

 

“That had nothing to do with me,” Ianto retorted with all the dignity he could muster. “It’s not my fault the toaster exploded.”

 

“You do not put pancakes in the toaster.”

 

“ _No_ , but I was making them _near_ the toaster. Tosh was the one to make it explode.”

 

“Told you. He’s alive only because I cook for the both of us since I started coming to his flat at all,” Jack said as he went to the toaster here – one, he hoped, that would be more reliable than the one in Torchwood – to get his breakfast and yawned as he poured milk for himself, feeling Ianto’s arms wrap around his waist and his hot breath in his ear. “If you’re good enough to keep bragging about, are you willing to teach me, Captain?”

 

“Seriously, do you have to do _that_?” Jack looked over his – and Ianto’s – shoulder and saw the Doctor looking at them in disgust. “What is it with everyone and kissing all the time?”

 

Ianto laughed heartily and, as the Doctor left the kitchen hastily, he looked back at Jack with the kind of flame in his eyes that never meant something good – even if what was currently on his mind was the most harmless idea in the world.

 

“Okay,” Jack said, his toasts forgotten. “Let’s end this once and for all.”

 

**o.O.o**

“You’re doing it wrong,” Jack chastised, trying to take the spoon out of Ianto’s hands, only to have him yank it back stubbornly.

 

“That’s what the instructions say, Jack.” The Time Lord said, now pouring even more water into the bowl. “There isn’t another way to do it. This is easier than instant coffee.” The disdain in his voice only showed how much he valued Jack’s advices on the whole situation.

 

“It might be,” Jack agreed half-heartedly, then immediately was forced to change his mind. “But it’s not supposed to _smell_ like that, Ianto!”

 

They both jumped away from the oven as Ianto’s first not potentially lethal attempt at cookery – pasta – started letting out something that smelled like rotten tomatoes and the door opened to let in Amy, her nose scrunched.

 

“What’s going on here?” She asked, frowning as she fanned her hand in front of her face. “Oh. It’s you lot. What are you _doing_?” She approached the bowl on top of the oven and poked it tentatively.

 

Ianto smiled bravely. “Cooking. That’s – that _was_ – supposed to be lunch.”

 

“Cooking?” She asked sceptically, then a knowing smile curled her lips. “You two? Cooking? And you just got married. What’s next, children?”

 

It seemed to be a joke and she walked out of the kitchen right after it, but Jack looked at Ianto and saw the same silent horror hidden in his eyes at her simple words.

 

**o.O.o**

Several hours, later when Ianto nearly poisoned them all with whatever it was he called dinner – and what he had told Jack that he could do by himself without needing help – and had left poor Rory still trying to get rid of whatever of it had remained in his stomach, and Jack had accidentally set fire to his and Ianto’s bed while trying to tell the TARDIS to fix the heating, they answered their own unasked question.

 

“No kids,” Jack said decisively as he kept his shirt in front of his face as the smoke slowly started disappearing.

 

Ianto shook his head in panic. “No kids,” he repeated. “Not now. Not _ever_.”


	30. Day Thirty: Restless on a Starlit Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, you and me, on the last page (too soon?). I expected this story to take so much time and now that I’m ending it, it seems like no time at all. Also, I ended it in a way that’s sort of open for a sequel because once I’ve started I don’t want to stop.  
> The prompt is a bit of a stretch, because it is a starlit night and they mention it for a sentence and a half, and everyone is definitely restless, so I’m cheating outrageously here. I could make it romantic. I tried to. But I wanted to include everything I’ve written for from the first chapters to now, so there it is now and I hope that I did well.

Jack supposed that it had been the constant litany of ‘Come on!’ coming from River and Ianto that finally did the Doctor in about an idea that was surely about to end in tears. The Vegas Galaxies were a dangerous place even when everyone involved had enough common sense to survive – which neither of the younger Time Lords possessed – and he couldn’t imagine what or why they would want to do with it, and yet there it was.

 

“Fine!” The Doctor shouted in the end after River had already crowded him against the console and had started telling him about all the things they could see on the planet she’d picked from said galaxies. Ianto had settled for just nodding eagerly behind her. “Okay! The Vegas Galaxies. Good. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

 

“They have no idea what they’re doing,” Jack informed him once the two of them were already out the door. “Absolutely no idea. Doctor, you were the one who told me that, by a Time Lord’s matter of aging, they’re practically twelve-year-olds.”

 

“When did you become the responsible one?” The Doctor asked with a small smile and Jack found himself returning it. “When did _you_?”

 

“They just want a bit of a distraction.” The Time Lord’s voice was soft and his eyes wandered around the room – no longer bathed in the gentle golden light that Jack was used to but a cold, deep blue. “And I can’t say I blame them. After everything that happened... they’re so _young_. And the last version of River I saw... My time with her is running out and when she comes here and she’s still has no idea... I can’t let myself miss that.”

 

Jack nodded silently. He couldn’t imagine how it this felt for the Doctor. He knew that if it was like that for him – if he knew that every time he met Ianto he was getting closer to the end – he wouldn’t have been able to stand it.

 

The Doctor had lost Amy and Rory mere weeks ago and this was apparently a version of River who didn’t know that yet, but she could still sense that something was wrong from the three of them and, when she’s suggested it, Ianto had been all too happy to back her up. Jack liked the idea of the two of them on the loose on an unknown planet about as much as he thought that letting two lions out in a kindergarten was a good idea – both were bound to bring destruction and some unusual headlines in tomorrow’s papers.

 

Jack got out of the TARDIS along with the Doctor and went after with River and Ianto who were already well ahead of them and discussing something while examining every shop they could see on their way.

 

The ceiling of the building, wherever it was they had landed – Jack suspected that it was some sort of an amusement centre – was entirely transparent and he could see the sky outside. It was clear they had arrived at night and the view was quite different when compared to the one on Earth – the stars were bigger, closer, and the two moons were shining above them. As soon as he caught up with Ianto, he took his lover’s hand in his and Ianto turned around, at first startled, only to have the expression melt into a smile.

 

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” His voice was quiet but his eyes spoke volumes. “You know, even when I thought I was human, I always looked up to the stars and wondered why they drew me in so much. I thought it could be a Torchwood thing – that we all were people who wanted to see how much more there was to it – and yet, sometimes it seemed so big, so _vast_ out there and I still can’t believe that I get to see it all up close.”

 

Jack squeezed his hand gently. “I know. Wait a minute,” he said, stopping in his tracks as he looked at one of the shop windows. “These aren’t supposed to be here,” he muttered and approached it, looking at all the different sorts of Time Agency technology. “These things were never for sale; they just gave them to us when we signed up...”

 

“I’m going up to the next floor,” Ianto said impatiently, letting go of Jack’s hand. “River said that there’s a whole section inspired by Earth’s steampunk culture and–”

 

“Okay,” Jack said, still distracted. Ianto rarely admitted it – and he wouldn’t be caught dead acting on it – but he was the biggest steampunk fan the Captain had yet to encounter. He himself had never really understood it. What was so great about jewellery and weapons that looked like the remnants of several automatons from the Dark Ages that had crashed together? “I’ll meet you there.”

 

“What are _these_ doing here?” The new voice replaced Ianto’s almost immediately as the Doctor lined up with him. “It would really be good if the Time Agency kept their stuff to themselves; they’re doing enough harm where they are.”

 

Jack shook his head. “There’s something illegal going on here. Nobody would let that equipment get in the hands of someone who isn’t prepared for it. Maybe that’s where River’s got hers, though.”

 

In linear time, Jack knew that she’d only just got her Vortex Manipulator and the fact that it looked alarmingly like his own worried him and he supposed that that would be a logical explanation for it, but the Doctor shook his head.

 

“No, she’s got it from Dorium. Or at least that’s what she told me. River?” The Doctor turned around, only to find that there was nobody there.

 

“Ianto said that they’re upstairs,” Jack said. “Perhaps it’s time to go find them anyway; we’ve been here long enough.”

 

‘Upstairs’, as it turned out, was exactly what Ianto had described it to be. There were lots of brass objects of all kinds and purposes and the place was crowded, which was why it took a while to search the whole place. Soon enough, both Jack and the Doctor had to admit that River and Ianto simply weren’t there.

 

“I can’t believe it,” Jack said exasperatedly as they sat down on the bench and started trying to think of a plan. “Actually, scratch that, I _can_. I knew that this isn’t a good idea. I just _knew_ it.”

 

Just then, the Doctor’s screwdriver started letting out small, quiet noises and the Captain immediately looked up. “What was that?”

 

“It’s from River’s Vortex Manipulator,” the Doctor muttered, taking the screwdriver out of his pocket and opening it. “But I don’t get it. This isn’t Morse code.”

 

“No, it isn’t.” Jack’s voice was quiet as he listened intently, trying to make sure. And yes, there it was: six beeps, each of them a second long and a second between them. “It’s Ianto. And it means that he’s in trouble.”

 

“Makes sense,” the Doctor nodded. “River usually sends messages. But this isn’t good.”

 

“Yes, Doctor, it’s a distress call.”

 

“I didn’t mean that.” The Doctor’s eyes met his. “If they’re sending this, it means that something prevents them from contacting us properly.”

 

**o.O.o**

When they finally found the teleports – and it had taken them quite some time to figure out that there might be teleports – Jack knew that the situation was worse than he’d imagined, especially when the guy manning the systems told them guiltily that they were out of order.

 

“What do you mean, out of order?” Jack snapped, already at breaking point. “When did it happen and who were the last passengers?”

 

 The man shrugged. “Half an hour ago. I tried to send them to the next planet – God knows what they wanted to do there, it’s a desert – but instead, the tracker completely lost them and they’re out of reach now. A man and a woman, from the convection over there; they were dressed like it.” He nodded to the people and aliens of all colours and sizes behind them, most of which were dressed in what were probably costumes of their favourite characters. “They seemed pretty excited and... wait a minute; someone’s trying to get through...”

 

Jack found himself tapping impatiently with his foot on the floor as the man’s communicator took its sweet time attempting to receive the message and when it finally did, he smiled. “Oh, there they are! They might be trying to contact you, if they know you’re looking for them.”

 

He turned the screen to the Doctor and Jack and they both let out identical sighs of relief when they saw River and Ianto up close on the other end, apparently staring at their own screen.

 

“Finally!” River exclaimed and Ianto’s face lit up and Jack supposed that they’ve been trying to get a two-way connection for some time now.

 

“Hello.” The Doctor pushed Jack away and leaned in. “Where are you? The teleport’s broken, they can’t get you out.”

 

“That’s just the thing,” River said a bit sheepishly. “We can’t get ourselves out either. It was a trans-dimensional transfer.”

 

“Where are you?” Jack asked, elbowing into the Doctor’s space so he could get a look at the screen too. “Everyone all right.”

 

“Fine,” River assured quickly, then flinched as a loud bang could be heard behind them and quickly disappeared out of sight.

 

“Jack!” Ianto put in. “Sorry about that. We just wanted to– never mind that, actually. Good news – we found Torchwood Four!” When neither Jack nor the Doctor shared his enthusiasm, his face fell. “Bad news – it’s in a time loop. That’s why it never showed up – it’s in a bloody _time loop_. And now, so are we.”

 

“ _What_?” The Doctor took his screwdriver out again and started scanning the screen. “How long?”

 

“The loop itself is about twelve hours, but we’ve been here for at least a couple of days. We’ve been trying to come through the whole time; I don’t know why nothing has passed for you. Might be the Time Ring messing up with the teleport.”

 

“What Time Ring?” The Doctor interfered again, for a moment distracted by the scanning. “Where did you _get_ one?”

 

“River gave it to me after she got the Manipulator.” Ianto lifted his wrist until the device in question came into view. “It’s not working very well, mind.”

 

“Of course it’s not working, it’s _broken_.” The Doctor hissed. “I’ve got your coordinates and it’s a weak point right now, so the TARDIS will probably be able to come in and out without too much damage. If you give me just a bit more time...”

 

Just then, there was another bang, a shout, Ianto disappeared from the screen and called for River before the communicator went dark.

 

“I’m going to get the TARDIS,” the Doctor said decisively. “Jack, use the teleport; if this is really the Time Ring’s fault, it should take you to its last destination. I’ll just follow the trace.”

 

And with that, he quickly disappeared into the lift, frantically pressing buttons which were supposed to get him to level zero and therefore to the TARDIS as well.

 

“A TARDIS?” The man asked as he started the teleports again and raised his eyebrows, visibly intrigued. “Are you Time Lords?”

 

“The three of them,” Jack said quickly. In case there was permanent damage, the Doctor could be easily traced and while the TARDIS could just think money into existence, Jack wasn’t funded by the Queen anymore now that he wasn’t working for Torchwood.

 

He grimaced. “How do you put up with them?”

 

Jack laughed. He wasn’t sure what century they had arrived to, but they were certainly somewhere in the faraway future – or at least, faraway from the twenty-first century he’d got used to by now.  Everyone was much more honest about their opinions. “Oh believe me,” he grinned while the man started setting the coordinates from the last trip, ready to send Jack into the unknown. “It’s a pleasure.”


End file.
